Private Banks & GAM
On 2 December 2005, UBS sold its Private Banks & GAM unit
to Julius Baer for an aggregate consideration of CHF 5,683
million, of which CHF 3,375 million was received in cash, CHF
225 million in the form of hybrid Tier1 instruments, and the
remaining CHF2,083 million representing a21.5% stake in the
enlarged Julius Baer. As part of the sales agreement, CHF 200
million of cash was retained within UBS. The gain on sale after
taxes from this transaction amounts to CHF 3,705 million.
As part of the agreement, UBS agreed to a lock-up period
of 18 months for 19.9% of the stake and of three months for
the remaining 1.6%. The value of the Julius Baer stake is based
on a price of CHF 86.20 per share at the date of closing, which
is a discount of 8.4% to the market price to take into account
the 18 month lock-up period to which 19.9% of the stake is
subject. Shortly after closing, UBS reduced its 21.5% stake to
approximately 20.7% by settling call options that were outstanding
on the shares of the former holding company of the
Private Banks & GAM businesses.
UBS has agreed to not take a seat on Julius Baer's board of
directors or exercise any control or influence on its strategy or
on its operational business decisions, and has no right to register
its shares with voting rights for a period of 3 years, unless
specifically defined events occur that could materially dilute or
otherwise affect UBS's position as an investor in Julius Baer. In
such an event, UBS has the option to register its shares with
voting rights and thus obtain the possibility to vote them at
shareholders' meetings. Given the fact that the shares are not
entered into Julius Baer's share register with voting rights, UBS
classified the stake as a financial investment available-for-sale.
Private Banks & GAM is presented as a discontinued operation
in these financial statements and the comparative prior
periods have been conformed to that presentation. Private
Banks & GAM comprised the three private banks Banco di
Lugano, Ehinger & Armand von Ernst and Ferrier Lullin as well
as specialist asset manager GAM and was presented as a separate
business segment.
Motor-Columbus
On 30 September 2005, UBS announced that it had signed
agreements to sell its 55.6% stake in Motor-Columbus to a
consortium of Atel's Swiss minority shareholders, EOS Holding
and Atel, as well as to the French utility Electricité de France
(EDF). The sale price has been set at CHF 1.3 billion, resulting
in an estimated pre-tax gain for UBS of around CHF 350 million.
The transaction must be approved by various national and
international authorities.
Motor-Columbus continues to be presented as a continuing
operation until it is highly probable that the conditions
precedent, to which the sale is subject, will be met. At that
time, Motor-Columbus will be presented as a discontinued operation
in the Financial Statements.