On 22 April 2021 Credit Suisse Group AG announced the placement of two series of Mandatory Convertible Notes (CHF 865,000,000 3.00 per cent. Series A Mandatory Convertible Notes due 2021 (Series A) and CHF 890,949,000 3.00 per cent. Series B Mandatory Convertible Notes due 2021 (Series B)), issued through a Guernsey finance vehicle and convertible into a total of 203 million shares of, and guaranteed by, Credit Suisse Group AG. The MCNs were priced on 23 April after close of trading and issued on 12 May.

On 29 April 2021, PolyPeptide Group commenced trading on SIX Swiss Exchange. The offering consisted of 3,125,000 new shares as well as 8,396,740 existing shares offered by PolyPeptide’s sole shareholder, Draupnir Holding B.V., at an offer price of CHF 64.00 per share (with an over-allotment option of up to 1,728,261 existing shares), which implies a total placement volume of up to CHF 848m. Trading opened at CHF 72.50 and closed on the first trading day at CHF 78.20, which represents a rise of more than 22 per cent from the offer price and implies a total market capitalization of CHF 2.59bn.

PolyPeptide is a Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) focusing on proprietary and generic GMP-grade peptides used by pharmaceutical and biotech companies in approved pharmaceutical products, drugs in clinical development as well as in generic products. Dating back to 1952, PolyPeptide today manufactures around one-half of all currently approved peptide drug substances with a global footprint of six GMP-certified facilities in Europe, the U.S. and India. As a multinational company with more than 900 employees, its diversity brings breadth, depth of knowledge and experience to the group. PolyPeptide has grown organically and by selective acquisition of existing expertise, culminating in its position today as a leader in outsourced peptide manufacturing.

On 4 May 2021, Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG (SIX: SANN) announced the settlement of the first exchange offer for a convertible bond in Switzerland. Holders of Santhera’s existing CHF 60 m Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2022 received one new CHF 30,270,375 Senior Unsecured Convertible Bond due 2024 and 26 Santhera shares per existing bond. The offer had been accepted by holders of 74.7% of the former bonds.

On 10 May 2021, Credit Suisse Group AG launched, and on 14 May 2021, successfully completed, the issuance of USD 3.25bn 3.091% Fixed Rate/Floating Rate Senior Callable Notes due 2032 under its U.S. Senior Debt Program. The Notes are bail-inable bonds that are eligible to count towards Credit Suisse’s Swiss gone concern requirement. The offering of the Notes was done in reliance on Rule 144A and Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act. The Notes have been provisionally admitted to trading, and application has been made for admission and listing of the Notes, on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

On 10 May 2021, Jacobs Holding AG successfully placed 550,000 shares (approx. 10%) in Barry Callebaut AG by way of an accelerated bookbuilding process. With a stake of 30.1%, Jacobs Holding remains the reference shareholder in Barry Callebaut.

On 12 May 2021, Montana Aerospace AG commenced trading on SIX Swiss Exchange. The offering consisted of 17,153,997 new shares at an offer price of CHF 25.65 per share (with an over-allotment option of up to 2,573,099 existing shares offered by Montana Tech Components AG), implying an offering volume of approximately CHF 506m and a total market capitalisation of approximately CHF 1.2bn.

Montana Aerospace is a leading, highly-vertically integrated manufacturer and supplier of system components and complex assemblies for the aerospace, e-mobility and energy sectors with worldwide engineering and manufacturing operations.

On 1 June 2021, Trifork Holding AG commenced trading on Nasdaq Copenhagen. Trifork’s IPO was priced at DKK 150 and consisted of the sale of 6,165,647 existing shares sold on behalf of the selling shareholders and 940,233 new shares sold by Trifork. The total value of the Offering (not including the over-allotment option, if exercised) amounts to approximately DKK 1.066bn. The Offering corresponds to a total market value of all issued shares of the Company of approximately DKK 2.962bn.

Trifork Group, headquartered in Schindellegi, Switzerland, with offices in 11 countries in Europe and North America, is an international IT group focusing on the development of innovative software solutions. The group was founded in Denmark in 1996 and now has more than 800 employees in business units, focusing on three vertical business areas: Digital Health, FinTech and Smart Buildings and three horizontals: Cloud Operations, Cyber Protection and Smart Enterprise.

Following the successful completion of the CHF 247 million capital increase of Swiss Steel Holding AG the newly issued shares started trading on SIX Swiss Exchange on 23 March 2021. This completed a contested and publicized process in which Swiss Steel Holding’s second largest shareholder Liwet Holding AG had initiated court proceedings and filed an application seeking to block the capital increase. By decision of 29 January 2021, the district court of Lucerne rejected Liwet Holding AG’s respective request. Liwet Holding AG also filed applications with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA and the Swiss Takeover Board, which were rejected by FINMA and the Swiss Takeover Board on 27 January 2021 and 5 March 2021, respectively. An appeal by Liwet Holding AG to FINMA against the Swiss Takeover Board’s decision of 5 March 2021 remains pending.

On 12 March 2021, ARYZTA AG (SWX: ARYN) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its North American business to Lindsay Goldberg LLC for a total enterprise value of USD 850 million. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of ARYZTA’s current 2021 financial year and is subject to closing conditions customary for this type of transaction.

3 March 2021 – Cicor, a leading international technology company in the fields of printed circuit boards and hybrid circuits, printed electronics, microelectronics as well as EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services), based in Boudry (Switzerland), has been informed that HEB Swiss Investment AG, Zurich, has sold all of its shares in Cicor Technologies Ltd. in a binding transaction to an investment vehicle of One Equity Partners (OEP). One Equity Partners (OEP) is a middle market private equity firm with over $8 billion in assets under management focused on transformative combinations within the industrial, healthcare and technology sectors in North America and Europe.