M and A
Credit Suisse Agrees To Sell Global Trust Businesses
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The Zurich-listed bank will be offloading its CST businesses in Guernsey, Singapore, The Bahamas and Liechtenstein.
Credit Suisse,
which is in the midst of
major restructuring, has agreed to sell its trust business to
Butterfield and
Gasser
Partner.
Under the move, Butterfield will acquire CST’s businesses based
in Guernsey, Singapore, and the Bahamas, while Gasser Partner
will acquire CST’s Liechtenstein operations. Credit Suisse
Trust entities will continue to operate with a limited number of
clients, Switzerland’s second-largest bank said in a statement
yesterday.
The changes coincide with Credit Suisse considering
slimming down some of its operations in order to focus more
on wealth management and to repair its profitability after a
series of setbacks and losses that have seen the exit of CEO
Thomas Gottstein and a number of other C-suite changes.
The Butterfield transaction, which is expected to close in the
first half of 2023, is subject to customary conditions, including
regulatory approvals. The transfer of the trust structures in
Liechtenstein, which will occur on a rolling basis, is also
expected to complete in the first half of 2023.
Credit Suisse said that a “significant portion” of CST’s
employees are expected to transfer to Butterfield.
The CST-related legal entities and any residual business will be
wound down by Credit Suisse over the next few years.
Butterfield, which is based in Bermuda, has been providing
international private trust services for more than 80 years. It
has expanded via organic growth and acquisitions. In the latter
case, Butterfield bought the trust and company administration
businesses of the Guernsey-based Legis Group in 2014, the
Bermuda-based trust unit of HSBC in 2016, and Deutsche Bank’s
Global Trust Solutions business in 2018. Butterfield’s trust
business employs more than 230 professionals and consists of
independently incorporated trust companies located in the
Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Singapore, and
Switzerland as well as a support service centre in Mauritius.
Gasser Partner, which is a registered trust company forming part
of the Gasser Partner law firm in Liechtenstein, advises high net
worth individuals and institutional clients in all areas of law,
including fiduciary services. It employs more than 50
professionals and has been operating for over 70 years
with offices in Vaduz, Zurich, and Vienna. Gasser Partner
already partners with CST’s Liechtenstein business to provide
quality trust and fiduciary services to clients.