Credit Suisse boosts capital with £200m sale of 7% stake in AAM

By GARETH MACKIE
Published on 04/07/2012 00:00

Credit Suisse has sold its remaining 7 per cent stake in Aberdeen Asset Management (AAM), raising more than £200 million to bolster the Swiss bank’s capital.

The deal completes Credit Suisse’s exit from its investment in AAM, and insiders said the 80.4 million shares were sold on within 15 minutes, in the range of 245p to 255p per share, reflecting strong demand from institutional investors.

A source said: “There’s real demand out there and the market has been waiting for this stake to come up for sale.”

Credit Suisse acquired a 24 per cent stake in AAM in July 2009, when the Aberdeen-based group bought part of the Swiss bank’s fund management business, and it has been gradually selling down its stake since then.

At the time, shares in the Scottish fund manager were trading at around 124p, and the source said the sale of its remaining holding was a “great deal” for the Swiss bank.

“It’s also been great for Aberdeen, as they got a series of very good fund management businesses in return,” the source added.

The deal boosted AAM’s funds under management by around £36 billion, making it the UK’s biggest publicly quoted fund manager. The group now manages more than £180bn of funds.

The stake sale comes just weeks after the Swiss National Bank told Credit Suisse, which recently suffered a Moody’s downgrade of its long-term debt rating, that it needed to supplement its capital this year. Shares in the bank hit a 20-year low last week but the group said it expects a profit for the second quarter.