UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.
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After an intense weekend of negotiations in March 2023, Swiss banking giant UBS agreed to buy its embattled rival Credit Suisse.
Despite the attractive purchase price of $3.2 billion, investors were concerned about whether UBS would manage to turn around Credit Suisse’s investment banking business — an old source of problems. UBS had also become one the biggest banks in Europe, raising political and regulatory fears.
At the time, investors were “very concerned” about the complexity of the deal and whether UBS would make it work, Bruno Verstraete, founder of Lakefield Wealth Management, told CNBC by email.
“When a healthy individual is sleeping next to someone with a severe flu, they are likely to contract it as well,” he said.
The acquisition was so complex that UBS decided to change leadership and bring back former CEO Sergio Ermotti to the bank’s helm to oversee the merger.
“Given the market conditions, political …