It’s not just private bank Julius Baer that’s rumored to have financed companies in investor René Benko’s Signa conglomerate. Credit Suisse is also said to have lent tens of millions – now its new parent company UBS could be left lumbered with the loans.
The lenders to real estate and retail company network Signa evidently include Credit Suisse. This was reported by newspaper «Tages-Anzeiger» (paid article, in german only), which cited anonymous sources.
According to these insiders, the major bank, which is now being integrated into its competitor UBS, lent around 100 million Swiss francs ($114 million) to companies owned by Austrian investor René Benko in 2020.
UBS Never Wanted to Do Business With René Benko
Later, the report says, Credit Suisse reduced the loan to a few dozen million Swiss francs.
The emergency takeover of the bank last March means this loan has also landed on the books of UBS, which clearly never wanted to do business with Benko. The report goes on to say that the loans are at risk because they are in large part secured by securities that are likely to lose value significantly due to the implosion of the Signa Group.
Share Tranches at Risk
Julius Baer (in german only), which reports that it has outstanding loans totaling 606 million Swiss francs to a «European conglomerate,» is sitting on a mix of collateral.
According to reports in the Sunday newspapers, the exposure consists of three tranches, largely comprising shares in the Signa Group and mortgages on Signa properties in Germany.
