Walder Wyss Lead Counsel to Credit Suisse on merger with UBS
Credit Suisse Group and UBS Group have completed their merger as of 12 June 2023, whereby Credit Suisse Group has been merged into UBS Group. The combined entity now operates as a consolidated banking group.
The merger was announced on 19 March 2023, following the intervention of the Swiss Federal Department of Justice, the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA. In a unique step, the Swiss Federal Counsel had decided that as part of an emergency ordinance (Notverordnung), the merger does not require approval of the shareholders’ meetings of the two companies.
Completion of the transaction was subject to certain conditions, including, inter alia, that the registration statement, which covers shares to be delivered, being declared effective by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. 12 June 2023 marked the last trading day of Credit Suisse Group shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Credit Suisse Group ADS are no longer traded on the New York Stock Exchange. As announced on 19 March 2023, Credit Suisse shareholders are receiving 1 UBS share for every 22.48 Credit Suisse shares held.
Walder Wyss acted as Lead Counsel to Credit Suisse on the merger with UBS. The team was led by senior counsel Urs Schenker (pictured left) and associate Christian A. Schmid (both capital markets/m&a; pictured right) and further included partner Dominik Hohler (corporate/m&a), partner David Borer (banking & finance), partners Alex Nikitine and Thiemo Sturny (both corporate/m&a), partner Irène Suter-Sieber (employment), associate Tabea Gutmann (employment), Dimitrios Berger (capital markets/m&a; managing associate), partner Thomas Müller (banking & finance), Sarah Vettiger (banking & finance; senior associate), partner Dieter Hofmann (litigation/ arbitration), Giulio Donati (litigation/arbitration; associate), Sanela Ninković (litigation /arbitration; associate), partner Thomas Meister (tax), partners Hans Rudolf Trüeb and Michael Isler (both regulated markets, competition, Technology & IP); trainee lawyers Helene Tasman and Joëlle Lötscher (both banking & finance), Caroline Grand (corporate/m&a; trainee lawyer) and Simon Mazidi (regulated markets, competition, technology & IP; trainee lawyer).
