Primary tabs

Disappointed with UBS loss, Singapore's GIC fund cuts stake

Bloomberg Published on Tue, May 16, 2017 / 8:29 AM GMT+8

A-

A+

(May 15): UBS Group AG’s largest shareholder, Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC, is slashing its ownership in the Swiss bank by offering a 2.4% stake worth about US$1.6 billion ($2.2 billion).

“Conditions have changed fundamentally since GIC invested in UBS in February 2008, as have UBS’ strategy and business,” GIC Chief Executive Officer Lim Chow Kiat said early Tuesday in a statement. “It makes sense now for GIC to reduce its ownership of UBS and to redeploy these resources elsewhere,” Lim said. GIC is “disappointed” that it lost money on the investment, according to the statement.

UBS is managing the sale, the Zurich-based bank said in an earlier statement. GIC said it previously owned 5.1% of the Swiss bank’s shares and that it will now own 2.7%. GIC is selling 93 million shares through an accelerated bookbuilding to institutional investors.