Credit Suisse caps Zurich property sales by offloading prime site

08 Aug, 2016

ZURICH: Credit Suisse has capped a series of downtown Zurich property divestments with the sale of a building on the up-market Bahnhofstrasse to investment fund Swiss Prime Anlagestiftung.

The sale was for more than 100 million Swiss francs ($102 million), the finnews.ch financial website reported on Monday.

A spokesman for Switzerland's second-biggest bank confirmed the sale but gave no financial details other than to say it would be booked in the third quarter as a sale-and-leaseback transaction.

He gave no reason for the sale. Swiss Prime Anlagestiftung, managed by Swiss Prime Site , also confirmed the transaction.

Credit Suisse, which made a second-quarter profit of 170 million francs, is in the midst of a revamp under Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam to focus more on wealth management and cut back on investment banking.

It has dismissed market speculation it may need fresh equity after a 6 billion franc capital raising round last year and plans to float part of its Swiss business, which the bank hopes will raise 2 billion to 4 billion francs.

The Leuenhof property -- once headquarters of Bank Leu, which was absorbed into Credit Suisse in 2012 -- now houses offices, luxury shops and a cafe.

Copyright Reuters, 2016

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