UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, said simple market opportunity was behind its decision to seek about 3.8 billion Swiss francs (€2.4bn) of new capital in a share offer.
“The share placement is not related to any specific events,” a UBS spokesman said. “UBS is taking this action now in order to take advantage of current market opportunities.”
The Swiss bank, one of the world's hardest-hit major banks in the global financial crisis, said yesterday it was offering about 293.3 million new shares at a price of 13 Swiss francs per share, a 6.9 per cent discount to yesterday's closing price of 13.97. It also said it would post a second-quarter net loss.
“Not much has changed yet. There are still red numbers, money outflows are continuing and the hunger for capital has still not been sated,” a trader said.
“At current valuations, UBS offers an attractive risk/reward ratio,” said Credit Suisse analysts, who raised their rating on UBS shares to “outperform” from “neutral” and increased its share price target to 20 Swiss francs from 16.
Reuters