The Swiss government said yesterday it had not decided what to do with its stake in Swiss banking giant UBS, even though it can now sell or convert the stake into shares.
“From today, the Federation can convert all of part of its mandatory convertible notes on UBS into UBS shares. Until now, there is no decision to convert and, or to sell,” the Swiss finance ministry said in a statement.
It said discussions were continuing with the relevant parties.
“The government will make a decision in due time,” it said.
Switzerland last year injected 6 billion Swiss francs, then equivalent to US$5.2 billion, in UBS as part of a massive state aid package to stabilize the bank.
The capitalization was made in the form of mandatory convertible notes that can be converted into shares after a lock-up period of six months.
Yesterday marked the end of the lock-up period. Bern can now convert the notes into shares, or it can opt to sell the stake to investors.
It can also convert the stake into shares and hold on to them.
If it chooses to make the conversion into shares, the minimum price of a share is SF18.21, significantly higher than Monday’s closing price of the stock at SF14.85.
The government can also hold the notes until June 2011, the deadline for conversion into shares. If it picks this option, it would be paid 12.5 percent in interest until then.
Bern has signaled on several occasions that it wants to divest from the bank as soon as possible.
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