Legalpass takes note of UBS response to investor lawsuits regarding CS
Published: Friday, Feb 23rd 2024, 16:20
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The lawsuits filed by investors against UBS over the financial terms of the CS takeover will keep the courts busy for a long time to come. After UBS recently submitted its dismissive response to the claims to the Commercial Court, one of the plaintiffs' associations, Legalpass, is now commenting for the first time.
However, as UBS's response to the complaints comprises 150 pages and was only received by Legalpass a week ago today, the analysis is still at an early stage. "At this stage, Legalpass will not publish a critical analysis of the arguments put forward by UBS," it said in a statement on Friday. "Such an analysis would be premature and is reserved for the further course of the legal proceedings."
However, there was already enough time for an initial assessment. The content of UBS's response contains no particular surprises, it is said. By and large, this line of defense by UBS had been expected by its own lawyers. The most surprising argument is UBS's assertion that Credit Suisse Group has in fact not had sufficient equity capital for a long time.
According to Legalpass, this assertion contradicts the authorities' previous statements. Nevertheless, this argument should be treated with caution in view of UBS's position.
Start-up represents 3000 shareholders
Legalpass is a legal start-up that claims to represent more than 3,000 shareholders. Other plaintiffs include the Swiss Association for the Protection of Investors (SASV), which, according to earlier information, is representing around 1,500 small CS shareholders with its lawsuit. There are more than 30 lawsuits in total, but they were combined into a single case at the Zurich Commercial Court, as was announced last weekend.
With their "class actions", the plaintiffs are seeking in particular better compensation for their CS shares. As part of the takeover ordered by the Swiss authorities, they received 1 UBS share for 22.48 CS shares. At the time the transaction was announced on March 19, 2023, this corresponded to a total purchase price of around CHF 3 billion. However, on the last trading day before the announcement, CS was valued at CHF 7 billion on the stock market, more than twice as high.
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