By Noele Illien
ZURICH (Reuters) -Credit Suisse said on Tuesday it has finalised the sale of most of its Securitized Products Group and related financing businesses to U.S. buyout fund Apollo Global Management – a key part of a sweeping revamp for the Swiss bank.
SPG assets held by Credit Suisse are set to slide to $20 billion from $75 billion due to this deal and the potential sale of other parts of the SPG portfolio to third-party investors, it said.
A sale price was not disclosed but Credit Suisse said Apollo would be paying a premium and the deal would result in an improvement in a key capital ratio.
Credit Suisse, which predicts the transactions will be completed by mid-2023, added that it expects Apollo to hire the majority of SPG staff. The Swiss bank will provide financing for a portion of the assets transferred to Apollo.
Analysts bemoaned the lack of disclosure.
“While the sale announcement is positive, we were hoping for more details at this stage,” analysts at J.P. Morgan Securities wrote.
Credit Suisse shares fell 1.1% in early trade.
The sale to Apollo was flagged last month when the bank announced plans to raise 4 billion Swiss francs ($4.2 billion) from investors, cut thousands of jobs and shift its focus further away from investment banking towards rich clients in an attempt to put years of scandals behind it.
The deal has been the subject of some scrutiny from investors due to a potential conflict of interest for Credit Suisse board member Blythe Masters.
She has served as a consultant to Apollo and Apollo has invested in Motive, a New-York-based investment company founded by Masters. Credit Suisse has said it took steps to avoid any conflicts.
($1 = 0.9435 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Noele Illien; Editing by Michael Shields and Edwina Gibbs)
