Credit Suisse has sold its third-party fund platform Investlab to a European fund service specialist. The combination of the business will create Europe's largest such platform.
The Swiss bank a week ago said it was in «advanced discussions» regarding strategic alternatives for its Investlab platform, through which it provides fund services to other financial services firms.
On Tuesday, Credit Suisse followed through with a statement about the sale of the platform. The Swiss bank will transfer all shares in Investlab to Allfunds Group, an Italian-Spanish services specialist. The deal includes service agreements and related distribution agreements, Credit Suisse said in a statement.
Minority Shareholder
The Zurich-based firm will become a minority shareholder of up to 18 percent of the combined business and will be represented on the board. Credit Suisse didn’t say how much it will be paid for the platform.
Credit Suisse will use the combined business platform to distribute mutual funds and exchange traded funds. The transaction will be concluded in the third quarter of 2019.
Global Distribution Platform
The combination of Investlab with Allfunds will create a global fund distribution platform with combined assets under administration of 570 billion Swiss francs ($587 billion), making it the biggest in Europe. With its Fondscenter, UBS is the No. 2 in this business.
