According to people with knowledge of the talks, the Qatar Investment Authority plans to increase its stake in Credit Suisse by investing in a share sale alongside Saudi National Bank.
The deal will result in up to a quarter of Credit Suisse stock owned by Middle Eastern investors as the scandal-plagued lender seeks to raise SFr4bn to fund a radical restructuring.
Last week, the Swiss bank announced that it would strip back and spin off its investment bank, reduce its global workforce by 9,000 and cut SFr2.5bn of costs in a three-year strategic revamp aimed at moving on from a succession of crises and quarterly losses.
One person who knew the deal said the third investor was a Swiss group, though not a rival bank.
Credit Suisse’s largest investor, US investment group Harris Associates, will not take part in the share placement but is expected to buy more stock as part of the rights issue, according to people who know the deal.
Olayan Group, an investment company owned by a wealthy Saudi family, is also not expected to take part in the share placement but would retain its stake of about 5 per cent in the bank by participating in the rights issue.
Olayan first acquired its stake in 1988.
Credit Suisse is acting as a global co-ordinator on the rights offering and has enlisted Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets and Société Générale as lead underwriters.
Over the weekend, Credit Suisse added 14 other banks to the syndicate.
«This was done as a show of strength to give comfort to the market,» said one of the bankers involved in the discussions.
Let's hope this move will strengthen these banks and the market as a whole. We sure need more stability and to be able to rely on something in these hard times. It's sad to hear about 9000 people that will be losing their jobs. This happens in all fields but it's never pleasant and these people should be helped somehow until they find new jobs.
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