UBS set for talks with Michael Klein to terminate Credit Suisse investment bank deal

Logos of Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse seen on an office building in Zurich, Switzerland March 19, 2023. (Image Source: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)

UBS is set to enter talks with Michael Klein to terminate a deal that would have seen the Wall Street dealmaker take control of much of Credit Suisse's investment bank, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

UBS on Sunday agreed to buy rival Swiss bank Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.23 billion) in stock and agreed to assume up to 5 billion francs ($5.4 billion) in losses, in a shotgun merger engineered by Swiss authorities to avoid more market-shaking turmoil in global banking.

Klein, a veteran dealmaker, was merging his eponymous advisory boutique into Credit Suisse's investment banking operations to create CS First Boston as a standalone business which he would have led from New York.

UBS has now assigned a legal team to examine how to void the contract Credit Suisse signed with Klein in the cheapest way possible, according to the FT report, which cited people with direct knowledge of the matter.

"We assume he (Klein) is cherry picking. The deal was done when the selling bank had a gun held to its head and we are no longer in that position," a person close to UBS said, according to the report.

UBS and Credit Suisse declined to comment, while Klein could not be immediately reached for comment.