Activist Investor RBR Details Credit Suisse Shake-Up Proposals

RBR Capital Advisors, the activist investor that last week bought a stake in Credit Suisse (CSGN.EB), revealed late Friday its plan for the Swiss bank, which includes a shake-up of its conglomerate structure and IT platform.

The investment firm says Credit Suisse should focus on wealth management and split off its investment banking and asset management divisions into independent companies. Specifically, RBR wants to merge and concentrate the Swiss Universal Bank, Wealth Management International and Wealth Management Asia divisions into a new structure whose value it says would exceed the current value of the entire group.

RBR added that Credit Suisse's investment banking arm should not only be split up but also domiciled outside Switzerland, such as in the U.S. RBR also has plans to revamp the bank's "sub-par IT platform" from scratch to better serve clients.

RBR announced last Tuesday it had bought a stake of between 0.2% and 0.3% in Credit Suisse.

Responding to RBR's proposals, Credit Suisse said it welcomed the views of all shareholders, but it was focusing on its existing strategy and three-year plan, "which is well on track and which we believe will unlock considerable value for our clients and shareholders."

Rudolf Bohli, founder of RBR, said: "Our plan has the potential to double Credit Suisse's share price within an 18-24 month period time frame."

Write to Alberto Delclaux at alberto.delclaux@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 23, 2017 03:49 ET (07:49 GMT)