UBS Whopped By Fire Sale Talk |
| Forbes - Mar 6, 2008 |
It usually puts investors in a good mood to hear that a company is selling something, but rumors that UBS was clearing out its portfolio of Alt-A mortgages was worrying on Thursday. It looked as if the bank was holding a desperate fire sale, in contrast to the largely orderly sale of assets within the global banking system so far.
"The fear is that if this is the stuff UBS can sell easily, what can the rest of their portfolio look like?" remarked Peter Thorne, an analyst at Helvea in London. "If Queen Elizabeth sold her crown for £20 on eBay, that would tell you a lot."
Shares in UBS tumbled 3.4%, or 1.10 Swiss francs ($1.07), to 31.14 Swiss francs ($30.17), in Zurich on Wednesday morning, after analysts at JPMorganbank said in a research note that it was "highly likely" that UBS had sold its 25 billion Swiss franc ($24.2 billion) Alt-A portfolio in a fire sale. A spokesman for UBS declined to comment on the note and press reports citing speculation of a fire sale.
Read Full Article from Forbes
- Posted: 2008-03-06 09:50:02
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