Credit Suisse Deal Hands #Saudi National Bank $1 Billion Investment Loss - Bloomberg

Credit Suisse Deal Hands Saudi National Bank $1 Billion Investment Loss - Bloomberg

Credit Suisse Group AG’s Middle Eastern shareholders, which together own about a fifth of the Swiss bank, are among some of the biggest losers in the turmoil that culminated with UBS Group AG agreeing to acquire the troubled lender at a steep discount.

Saudi National Bank, the Swiss lender’s top shareholder, has seen the value of its investment plummet by about $1 billion in a matter of months. Credit Suisse’s long-term backer, the Qatar Investment Authority, has seen the value of its 6.8% holding crash after upping its stake as recently as January.

The 9.9% stake held by Saudi Arabia’s largest lender is now valued at about 304 million francs ($329 million) following the UBS offer, according to Bloomberg calculations. Saudi National Bank, which is 37% owned by the Public Investment Fund, invested 1.4 billion francs in Credit Suisse late last year. Shares in the Saudi lender have slumped by about a third over that period — wiping more than $25 billion off its market value.

Deep-pocketed Middle Eastern investors have been backing European banks such as Credit Suisse for many years, with varying degrees of success. Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Plc both tapped Abu Dhabi-based funds during the 2008 financial crisis, which both ended in acrimonious court cases.