Activist Cevian places €1.2bn bet on UBS

Keep knowledgeable with free updates

Merely signal as much as the World myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.

Good morning.

Now we have an unique story immediately on UBS. Activist investor Cevian Capital has taken a €1.2bn stake within the Swiss financial institution, betting that it will possibly double its valuation over the subsequent three to 5 years.

Cevian, Europe’s largest devoted activist, has invested slightly below a tenth of its whole portfolio in UBS shares because it rescued Credit score Suisse in March, in response to folks with information of the strategy. Cevian is now a top-10 investor in UBS.

In contrast to extra aggressive US rivals, Cevian prefers to work behind the scenes with its portfolio firms. Folks aware of the activist’s technique stated Cevian was not looking for a board seat at UBS and supported present chair Colm Kelleher and chief government Sergio Ermotti.

Whereas UBS is certainly one of Europe’s Most worthy banks, it nonetheless closely trails Wall Avenue friends. Cevian’s founder explains to the Monetary Occasions why it sees UBS because the “largest alternative in world financials”.

Right here’s what I’m retaining tabs on immediately:

Financial knowledge: The EU publishes its client worth index, whereas the CBI releases its industrial tendencies survey for the UK.

Outcomes: Accenture, De La Rue and FedEx report.

UK politics: Residence secretary James Cleverly will probably be grilled by the Home of Lords Worldwide Agreements Committee on the UK-Rwanda asylum settlement. At this time additionally marks the deadline for the recall petition for Tory MP Peter Bone, which may set off a by-election in Wellingborough. For extra on British politics, join our Inside Politics publication by Stephen Bush.

The Monetary Occasions’ award-winning podcast sequence Scorching Cash is again. Season two investigates a mysterious homicide in a small city that results in an online of medicine, cash laundering and state-sponsored assassinations stretching from Dublin to Dubai. Pay attention on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

5 extra prime tales

1. Unique: The European Financial institution for Reconstruction and Growth is about to double lending to Ukraine after shareholders agreed a €4bn capital improve. The EBRD is already the biggest institutional lender to Ukraine’s company sector and has issued about €3.7bn in loans because the begin of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Right here’s how a lot its annual lending to Kyiv will improve.

The FT View: To make sure money flows to Ukraine subsequent 12 months and that the EU can stay an efficient geopolitical participant, the bloc should discover methods to sort out its “Orbán drawback”, write the FT’s editorial board.

2. The US has satisfied greater than a half dozen allies to hitch a strengthened naval job pressure within the Purple Sea amid mounting assaults by Iran-backed rebels on business delivery which have pushed oil costs larger. The announcement got here simply hours after BP, a big producer of oil in Iraq and fuel in Oman, stated it was halting all shipments via the waterway, citing the “deteriorating safety state of affairs”.

3. Unique: Most firms aren’t able to deploy generative synthetic intelligence at scale, in response to Accenture’s chief government. Essentially the most hyped expertise of 2023 remains to be in an experimental part at most firms and macroeconomic uncertainty is holding again IT spending usually, stated Julie Candy forward of her firm’s outcomes, to be printed immediately. Learn her full interview with the FT.

4. Apple will cease promoting its smartwatches via the corporate’s US shops earlier than Christmas after dropping a patent infringement case, dealing it a blow in the course of the vacation gross sales season. A US decide present in January {that a} blood oxygen sensor on latest Apple Watch fashions infringed patents owned by medical gadget maker Masimo.

5. Unique: The UK financial system is susceptible to a “arduous touchdown”, Pimco’s chief funding officer has warned. Daniel Ivascyn informed the FT he has been operating bigger than normal bets on UK authorities bonds relative to these from the US, in anticipation that the UK will endure better financial pressure. Right here’s extra from one of many world’s largest energetic bond fund managers.

FT Particular person of the Yr

Earlier than Wegovy and Ozempic, the one really efficient remedy for weight problems was bariatric surgical procedure, which is dear and generally dangerous. Now, the available medicine may have a profound affect on healthcare, society and our relationship with meals. For main the corporate that produced these game-changing remedies via a mannequin of affected person, persistent however transformational innovation, the Monetary Occasions has chosen Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen as its Particular person of the Yr.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

Israel-Hamas conflict: Concern and anger stalk Israeli residents who reside alongside the border with Gaza, the place they are saying the military should “end the job” within the conflict towards Hamas.

Financial coverage: With politics more likely to develop into extra dysfunctional, central bankers must reinstate macroeconomic guardrails, writes former Reserve Financial institution of India governor Raghuram Rajan.

Zimbabwe: Critics say the contentious circumstances of a latest by-election are aimed toward securing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s grip on energy.

Professional-parent insurance policies: States that wish to encourage folks to have extra children ought to take into consideration making it simpler to boost them, writes Stephen Bush.

Chart of the day

India’s central financial institution introduced measures to curb rising stress within the burgeoning marketplace for unsecured client loans, after knowledge confirmed the share of delayed funds was rising. The transfer hit fintech lenders similar to Paytm, which had been more and more counting on riskier borrowing for progress.

Take a break from the information

Over 130 years, Maxim’s in Paris has performed host to everybody from Proust to Piaf, Cocteau to Callas, Delon, Gainsbourg and Birkin. Now the legendary restaurant off the Place de la Concorde has been given a makeover.

Further contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith