Zurich, Switzerland & BASEL, Switzerland–Today, UBS (NYSE: UBS) announces that it has agreed to sell its Brazilian financial services business, UBS Pactual, for approximately USD 2.5 billion to BTG Investments, headed by André Esteves.
The sale of the Brazilian business is consistent with UBS’s policy to continue to reduce its risk profile, strengthen its balance sheet and sharpen its business focus. UBS expects no disruption to its other businesses as a result of the transaction.
The transaction will take place at a premium to book value. It will increase Tier 1 capital by CHF 1.3 billion, decrease risk weighted assets by CHF 3.0 billion, and reduce total assets by CHF 6.3 billion. It will strengthen UBS’s BIS Tier 1 ratio by approximately 60 basis points.
UBS expects the sale to result in a small loss. A detailed description of the effects of the transaction on UBS’s quarterly results will be provided in the Q1 2009 financial report to be published on 5 May 2009.
The consideration will be a combination of cash and the assumption of liabilities and the transaction is expected to close in mid 2009, subject to regulatory.