Latham, White & Case take lead on Credit Suisse funding project
White & Case take lead on Credit Suisse funding project" />Latham & Watkins and White & Case have scored the lead roles on Credit Suisse’s CHF10bn (£5.57bn) fundraising aimed at making the bank the best capitalised in the world.
Credit Suisse boosted its Tier 1 capital ratio from 10.4 to 13.7 per cent after the cash injection from a small group of investors, the biggest being Qatar Holding, a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority.
Latham & Watkins Middle East chief Bryant Edwards led the deal for Credit Suisse, while White & Case Abu Dhabi corporate partner Villiers Terblanche headed a multijurisdictional team for Qatar Holding, including London finance partner Allan Taylor.
“The firm has worked for the Qatar Investment Authority on a number of deals in previous years,” explained Taylor. “This time round we had a multijurisdictional team working in offices in Abu Dhabi, Brussels, London and New York.”
Credit Suisse expects to report a pre-tax loss of CHF3.2bn (£1.78bn) in investment banking for the third quarter of 2008, reflecting writedowns of CHF2.4bn (£1.34bn) in the bank’s leveraged finance business, which it attributed to “exceptionally adverse trading conditions”.
Credit Suisse’s CHF10bn (£5.57bn) capital raising came after the bank reached an agreement with the Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC) about its future capital targets and leverage requirements. Credit Suisse now exceeds the SFBC’s capital targets for 2013, after selling CHF5.5bn (£3.07bn) of Tier 1 capital and CHF4.9bn (£2.73bn) of treasury shares and convertible bonds.
It is understood that the White & Case team included partners Chris Kandel and Phillip Broke in London, and partner Hayward Blakemore in Paris.
Latham’s team included London finance partner Christopher Hall and Dubai finance partner Tim Ross, together with London associates Ian Drake and Nicola Stewart and Dubai associates Chris Lester and Christian Adams.
