Swisscom’s Italy foray works best as a first step 15 Mar 2024 The $30 bln Alpine telco predicts 600 mln euros of annual savings from its 8 bln euro Vodafone Italia buy. Yet investors don’t yet seem to be assuming a big windfall. Revamping mobile services in the highly competitive Italian market to drive returns requires further M&A.
Credit Suisse carcass feeds many hungry mouths 15 Mar 2024 In the year since it collapsed, competitors have carved up the Swiss bank’s employees and clients. UBS grabbed most of the spoils, but Santander, Deutsche Bank and others have also moved in. Lasting benefits, though, depend on survivors showing restraint when activity picks up.
Galderma IPO offers EQT a temporary facelift 6 Mar 2024 The Swiss skin care group is looking to raise $2 bln in a listing to cut debt. At $22 bln, in line with L’Oréal’s valuation, its private equity owners could get decent returns. But with the French beauty giant growing similar products faster, retaining margins may be challenging.
Vodafone’s Italy exit puts speed before valuation 28 Feb 2024 The UK telco looks poised to sell its hard-pressed local business to Swisscom for 8 bln euros in cash. The price tag is lower than a previous Iliad offer. But it’s a cleaner exit, and advances boss Margherita Della Valle’s goal of prompt M&A to make her company less sprawling.
Investors are yet to fully embrace UBS’s promise 6 Feb 2024 The $93 bln Swiss bank is restarting dividends and share buybacks after delivering 30% of total planned cost savings from the Credit Suisse merger in 2023. Yet investors don’t seem fully convinced it will hit its returns targets. Speeding up the integration this year would help.
Julius Baer pops myth of private bank prudence 1 Feb 2024 CEO Philipp Rickenbacher is leaving the $12 bln Swiss wealth manager after bad lending led to a $700 mln writedown. It’s a reminder that serving rich clients is not risk-free. Money managers will have to provide more clarity on loan books or give up lucrative but dicey practices.
Holcim split cements deglobalisation trend 29 Jan 2024 The $43 bln Swiss building materials giant is separating its fast-growing North American arm from its remaining operations in an attempt to unlock value. The striking thing is that investors appear to view Holcim’s global scale as a brake on value, rather than a driver of it.
Davos holds up funhouse mirror to shifting world 22 Jan 2024 Delegates from the Middle East and India made a splash at last week’s World Economic Forum, reflecting their wealth and investment appeal. Europeans and Chinese were subdued. Big Tech looks the winner from AI. This year’s Swiss conflab arguably exaggerated more than it distorted.
Time for EU to assist its solar panel industry 17 Jan 2024 Meyer Burger’s stock tanked 35% after it threatened to shut Europe’s biggest photovoltaic plant unless it gets German incentives. Stuck between US subsidies and cheap Chinese products, continental players are weak. Turning support for fossil fuels into green aid would help.
The spectre of Donald Trump hangs over Davos 12 Jan 2024 The former US president is not among the 2,800 business and political leaders converging on the Swiss resort. But his possible return to power will pervade debates about Ukraine, China, and climate change. In 2016, Davos laughed off the idea of a Trump presidency. Not this time.
Mega-bank M&A goes from impossible to imaginable 28 Dec 2023 After 2008, CEOs saw investment-bank deals as risky while regulators saw them as dangerous. UBS will prove otherwise if it safely and profitably absorbs Credit Suisse. Imitators will not get the same sweet deal, but targets like SocGen and Barclays at least come cheap.
Swiss pharma mega-deal has healthy prognosis 19 Dec 2023 In 2001 Novartis took a stake in Roche, yet a deal never happened. Over two decades later, the mooted acquirer is stronger and could gain from vast synergies and more heft in oncology. Making the $440 bln union a reality means overcoming family pride, and antitrust issues.
Glencore’s split is yet to be copper-bottomed 6 Dec 2023 Having merged its coal assets with Canadian miner Teck’s, the $70 bln Swiss group is eyeing a spinoff. But boss Gary Nagle faces a tricky call on what to do with oil trading. And the appeal of a coal-clean metals split may hinge on whether Teck’s own separation creates value.
Richemont digital strategy goes back to square one 29 Nov 2023 The Swiss group’s sale of its YNAP online platform is in doubt due to troubles at US-listed buyer Farfetch. Extracting itself from the deal, though potentially messy, looks the best option for the Cartier owner. Yet that still leaves Chairman Johann Rupert with an old problem.
Julius Baer hit undermines private-banking premium 20 Nov 2023 The pure-play Swiss wealth manager fell 12% after a profit warning, prompted partly by sharp losses against its credit portfolio. Investors didn’t sign up for that kind of risk. The private bank’s top-tier valuation may have to shrink.
Glencore deal is necessary detour on breakup path 14 Nov 2023 CEO Gary Nagle is buying 77% of Teck Resources’ coal arm for $6.9 bln as a prelude to a dirty-fuel spinoff. It’ll backfire if prices fall or authorities intervene. But it’s worthwhile given the reasonable valuation and chance to build a more appealing coal unit for investors.
Farfetch turns from Richemont blessing to curse 9 Nov 2023 The $65 bln Cartier-owner hoped to fix a problem by flogging part of digital arm YNAP to the US-listed marketplace in a stock deal that involves extending $450 mln in credit. But Farfetch’s stock has dived and its finances are stretched. Its woes risk infecting the bling giant.
UBS faces a long wait for M&A share-price boost 7 Nov 2023 Boss Sergio Ermotti is cutting costs and shedding unwanted Credit Suisse assets. He’s even won $22 bln of new money from wealthy clients. The question is when investors will reward him with a richer valuation. Lingering legal and integration risks suggest it might take time.
Banks’ wealth-management heyday may have passed 18 Oct 2023 Morgan Stanley, UBS and others focused on catering to rich people after the 2008 crisis, as asset prices soared and regulation hit their traditional businesses. Now, falling fees and rising rates imply slower growth. The silver lining is that smaller players will struggle more.
UBS bondholders tee up risky goldfish impression 20 Sep 2023 The $84 bln bank may issue contingent convertible bonds, months after a state-led takeover of Credit Suisse burned the defunct lender’s debt. Market prices suggest it may not pay a big penalty for Switzerland’s sins. That invites bank overseers to burn other CoCos in future.