UBS has bought fellow banking giant Credit Suisse in a deal that will create a bank with an $80B commercial real estate loan book and more than $100B of real estate assets under management — making it the fourth-largest CRE lender in the world — but the key element of the deal for CRE is whether it can stop liquidity drying up in the banking system.
UBS’ headquarters in Zurich
UBS announced on Sunday that it had agreed a deal to rescue Credit Suisse and would pay about $3.25B for its Swiss rival. Swiss financial regulators changed the law so that shareholders do not have to approve the deal, such was the need to get a speedy transaction completed.
“This acquisition is attractive for UBS shareholders but, let us be clear, as far as Credit Suisse is concerned, this is an emergency rescue,” UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher said in a