MILAN (Reuters) – Credit Suisse shares fell on Thursday because more people were doubtful about a takeover offer from U.S. financial giant State Street (NYSE:STT) after a media report on Wednesday brought the heavily shorted stock up from a near 20-year low.
Inside Paradeplatz, it said that a U.S.-based group was planning a takeover bid. Overnight, State Street said that it was focused on buying the Investors Services business from Brown Brothers Harriman.
Credit Suisse stock fell even more from Wednesday’s highs because there was no confirmation. By 07:08 GMT, they were down 3.5%, which was worse than the rest of Europe’s markets, which were down 0.5% before a policy meeting of the European Central Bank.
Analysts think that a takeover is very unlikely because there aren’t many synergies and there are a lot of risks, from capital costs to lawsuits. But the asset management business could be something that State Street is interested in.
The deal talk comes after Credit Suisse issued its third quarterly profit warning in a row.
(This story fixes the State Street code and adds a word that was left out of the first paragraph.)
