UBS may bid as GE set to sell Swiss unit
Source: Agencies |
December 5, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
GENERAL Electric Co wants to sell its Swiss consumer lending business and UBS AG is one of the possible bidders, in a deal that could be worth up to 1.5 billion Swiss francs (US$1.6 billion), sources said.
They said UBS was one of at least two parties who planned to submit bids for GE Money Bank in an auction process. "GE wants to finalize the sale ... by the end of the first quarter," said one of the sources.
UBS and GE Money Bank officials in Switzerland declined to comment.
The disposal is part of a plan by the United States conglomerate to shed non-core assets, such as a US$1.5 billion stake in Thailand's fifth-largest lender Bank of Ayudhya.
If UBS were to buy the Swiss unit it would be the first deal of note for Switzerland's biggest bank since the financial crisis, when it ran up US$50 billion in subprime losses and took a Swiss government bailout in 2008.
Its last major acquisition was of Brazilian investment bank Pactual for about US$3.1 billion in 2006, but UBS was forced to sell the bank in 2009 to raise capital.
A UBS purchase of GE Money Bank would confirm the bank's stated desire to refocus on its home market.
They said UBS was one of at least two parties who planned to submit bids for GE Money Bank in an auction process. "GE wants to finalize the sale ... by the end of the first quarter," said one of the sources.
UBS and GE Money Bank officials in Switzerland declined to comment.
The disposal is part of a plan by the United States conglomerate to shed non-core assets, such as a US$1.5 billion stake in Thailand's fifth-largest lender Bank of Ayudhya.
If UBS were to buy the Swiss unit it would be the first deal of note for Switzerland's biggest bank since the financial crisis, when it ran up US$50 billion in subprime losses and took a Swiss government bailout in 2008.
Its last major acquisition was of Brazilian investment bank Pactual for about US$3.1 billion in 2006, but UBS was forced to sell the bank in 2009 to raise capital.
A UBS purchase of GE Money Bank would confirm the bank's stated desire to refocus on its home market.
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