Sbc Takes The Whole Warburg
The Age
Thursday February 13, 1997
Eighteen months after securing its foothold in Australia through the old Potter Warburg broking firm, Swiss Bank Corp has moved to buy the employees' 49.9 per cent stake in the company.
The move will consolidate SBC's standing as a global investment bank by folding the Australian and New Zealand businesses more neatly into the group's extensive European and Asian networks.
It closely follows Merrill Lynch's recent big-time launch in Australian markets through its takeover of McIntosh Securities, and it coincides with the proposed $US10 billion ($A13.2 billion) merger of the Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter, Discover & Co groups to form a massive United States securities and advisory house.
SBC's decision was immediately welcomed by the Standard & Poor's credit rating agency, which affirmed the AA long-term ratings of SBC Warburg Australia and put the rating on a positive outlook. SBC is rated AA-plus.
SBC Warburg's managing director, Mr Clive Standish, who will become the deputy chairman for SBC in the Asia-Pacific region, said yesterday the decision to move to 100 per cent control was not triggered by Merrill Lynch's expansion.
"They did not force our hand . . . Eighteen months later, we have made a success of SBC and that allows us to move on to the next stage of the development, and that is to integrate Australia and New Zealand more fully into the network," Mr Standish said.
"The reality is that in a 100 per cent-owned operation, the ease of capital and technology transfer into, and out of, Australia improves significantly."
Mr Standish declined to reveal the terms of the proposed purchase.
© 1997 The Age
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