Credit Suisse says activist investor RBR no longer registered shareholder

[April 18, 2018]  ZURICH (Reuters) - Activist investor Rudolf Bohli and his RBR Capital Advisors no longer own any registered shares in Credit Suisse, the Swiss bank said on Wednesday.

The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen at a branch in Winterthur, Switzerland November 2, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

"Rudolf Bohli no longer owns any Credit Suisse shares entered in the share register," a spokesman said, confirming a report on Swiss website finews.com.

RBR -- which rose to prominence through high-profile but ultimately unsuccessful activist campaigns against asset manager GAM and airline caterer Gategroup -- proposed a breakup of Switzerland's second-biggest bank last year, announcing it had taken a 0.2 percent stake in October.

But the bank flagged a reduction in RBR's stake just a month and a half later, which the hedge fund denied.

Credit Suisse shares have risen 2.8 percent since Bohli announced his initial plans on Oct. 17. They were up 0.4 percent by 1125 GMT, while the Stoxx European bank sector index was down 0.1 percent.

A Credit Suisse spokesman on Wednesday said RBR and Bohli no longer retained any voting rights, but added it was possible the activist investor might have economic interests in Credit Suisse shares via a prime brokerage.

RBR did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In January, RBR announced the closure of one of its funds and said it would be placing greater emphasis on shareholder activism, shifting its focus on Credit Suisse to revamping IT in its flagship wealth management business.

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi, edited by John Miller and Michael Shields)

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