When Credit Suisse (CS) was commissioned by the regulator to prepare the scenario of a sale following its near demise in the fall of 2022, it remembered a name steeped in tradition: The crisis-ridden major bank chose the Franco-British Rothschild & Co, owned by the banking dynasty of the same name for over 200 years, as its advisor.

Team Tripled

The CS management under CEO Ulrich Körner could rely on a powerful team on site in Zurich: At Rothschild & Co, the enterprising investment banker Nick Bossart (pictured below) built a 15-member team in just under two years. This is three times the team size Bossart found upon his arrival in the fall of 2022.

Bossart's team is located in the same glass building in the upscale Zurich District 8 as the private bankers of Rothschild & Co's Swiss branch. However, it reports directly to the headquarters in London, which speaks to the importance of his team.

(Image: Rothschild & Co)

Focus on the Supreme Discipline

On site, Bossart can now offer the entire spectrum of «classic» investment banking, as he explains to finews.com: advising on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of companies as well as on capital market transactions in the equity (ECM) and debt (DCM) sectors.

However, the team's focus is on the supreme discipline of M&A. This approach is also in line with the entire banking group: With around 1,400 investment bankers in 40 countries, Rothschild & Co was involved in a total of 379 announced M&A transactions last year, according to data provider Refinitiv. At least in terms of the number of deals, this was more than any other investment bank.

In this country, the institution ranked directly behind the much larger UBS in 2023 with 14 announced «deals» worth $16.9 billion, according to the same data.

Alongside Sandoz

The institution positions itself as an «advisory only» provider: the bank earns solely from advising companies, without profiting from the numerous side businesses that typically accompany investment bank transactions at banking conglomerates with various other divisions. Rothschild & Co also claims to act particularly independently as a family-owned company and to have a long-term perspective as an advisor.

The bank has backed up such promises with actions in this country. Since the beginning of the year, Bossart's team has assisted the Swiss generics giant Sandoz in acquiring the biosimilar Cimerli from Coherus, as well as the waste management specialist Helvetia Environnement in selling its shares to the French competitor Paprec.

Additionally, the team is advising the weather and meteorology service provider DTN Europe on the sale of its maritime software to the local electrical engineering group ABB.

Not Yet Satisfied

That's not a bad start to the year. But Bossart, who previously helped the American giant J.P. Morgan achieve a top position in the Swiss market as country head, is not yet satisfied. «We have put a lot of work into the transaction pipeline,» he points out. «But we have not yet been able to reap the rewards.»

At least he now expects a somewhat more profitable year than 2023, when there was a freeze in Swiss investment banking. The experienced dealmaker also downplays the potential that some competitors are anticipating due to the CS integration. The combined UBS, so the theory goes, cannot take over the entire CS client base due to balance sheet risks alone. Large foreign firms like Deutsche Bank or BNP Paribas are now aiming to fill this gap.

More Stable Than Expected

But those players might be celebrating too early: the combined Swiss investment banking of UBS has so far shown remarkable stability, reports Bossart.
This could remain the case for some time, as it takes several years to «complete» an investment banking mandate. Therefore, market movement is not expected until 2025. A long time for impatient dealmakers.