Julius Baer Surges on Speculation of Takeover by Credit Suisse
Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) — Julius Baer Group Ltd., Switzerland’s third-largest wealth manager, jumped to the highest in almost four months following a report it may be acquired by Credit Suisse Group AG.
The shares rose 2.8 percent to 41.95 Swiss francs ($46) at 10:55 a.m. in Zurich after earlier increasing as much as 3 percent to 42 francs, the highest since May 14. Inside Paradeplatz, a Swiss finance industry blog, said today Credit Suisse might be considering a takeover of Julius Baer, without citing anyone. Spokesmen for Julius Baer and Credit Suisse declined to comment on the report.
“It would be a good fit for Credit Suisse,” Jonas Floriani, a London-based analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. He has a market perform rating on Julius Baer shares. “They would be acquiring some assets that are doing well, expanding in Asia and consolidating in Germany and Switzerland.”
Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, has been under pressure to focus more on managing money for the wealthy and reduce its exposure to investment banking. The Zurich-based bank earlier this year paid a fine of $2.6 billion to settle an investigation of helping its clients dodge U.S. taxes.
Julius Baer has said it expects to pay a penalty to settle its tax dispute and can’t reliably assess the size of the fine.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeffrey Vögeli in Zurich at jvogeli@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elisa Martinuzzi at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net Simone Meier, Steve Bailey
