According to reports, asset management firm State Street is considering acquiring Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse.
Inside Paradeplatz, a Swiss financial news outlet reported that the Boston-based asset management firm aims to offer 9 Swiss francs for each Credit Suisse share for a total of $23.6 billion.
Credit Suisse was reportedly valued at CHF 9 (£7.35) per share, up 34% from its current share price of CHF 6.72 (£5.48).
Credit Suisse would be valued at CHF 23 billion (£18.8 billion), which is similar to State Street’s current valuation of $25.3 billion (£20.2 billion).
The outlet also noted that Credit Suisse “would probably become a subsidiary of State Street, with a focus on Swiss universal banking and global private banking”. It added that the takeover could see the bank’s upper management replaced with executives from State Street.
Several analysts who talked with Reuters were skeptical of State Street’s plans to buy a full-service bank like Credit Suisse.
State Street manages $3.9 trillion in client assets and, along with BlackRock and Vanguard, owns a combined 20 percent ownership in every Fortune 500 business.
All three asset management firms have been vocal proponents of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, pressuring corporations in their management portfolios to make pledges and promises to implement projects such as DEI and sustainable energy commitments.
In other words, enterprises under their control are required to combine business and political decisions. The three asset managers put three climate activists on Exxon Mobil’s 12-person board of directors, according to the Daily Wire in 2021.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the author of “Woke Inc” in a statement to Daily Wire said:
“Consolidation in the asset management industry is part of what allows a small group of players to advance a monolithic ideology on the rest of corporate America,”
“ESG in many ways originated in Europe and is even stronger there than in the United States — so I think this is just a part of the continued trend of seeing ESG become a dominant transnational trend on both sides of the Atlantic,”he continues.
“The asset management industry — and the finance industry overall — is the one industry that’s upstream of all others, and why it has the greatest cultural influence of all,” Ramaswamy added.
However, Credit Suisse declined to comment, citing a recent interview with CEO Thomas Gottstein in which he said:
“We have a total focus on our strategy. We are at a valuation now where we have a lot of upside. If we deliver on our strategy, then our share price will follow, and that is what we are focused on.”
Credit Suisse announced on June 8 that it expects to lose money this quarter as a result of events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising interest rates, and changing client flows.
Sources: Dailywire, Reuters, Citywireusa