Standard Chartered in talks to lend on behalf of Credit Suisse spin-off

LONDON – Standard Chartered is in talks to support the leveraged-finance business of Credit Suisse Group’s investment-banking spin-off, according to sources familiar with the matter.

London-based Standard Chartered is discussing partnering with New York-based boutique Credit Suisse First Boston by providing lending capacity, said the sources, who requested anonymity as they were discussing confidential information. Standard Chartered would not invest in the new entity as part of any proposed transaction, one of them said. 

The structure of any transaction could still change and it is possible that no agreement will be reached.

Credit Suisse First Boston, led by Mr Michael Klein, has separately discussed forming a leveraged finance balance sheet that would be helmed by an investment from Apollo Global Management, Bloomberg News reported last week. 

Spokesmen for Standard Chartered and Credit Suisse declined to comment.

Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters said in 2022 that his bank was well placed to take market share in leveraged finance, in part because a slew of rivals were hit with losses from hung loans. 

“There’s been a lot of pain in the leveraged finance sector,” he said on an earnings call. “We are a meaningful leveraged finance player, but we’ve avoided the losses. I guess we’re more subtle about it. And that’s really good. It means, I think, we’re in a good position to take advantage of some opportunities that could come up as that market settles down.” BLOOMBERG