UBS warns of future property market losses

by Gill Montia

Story link: UBS warns of future property market losses

UBS, the Swiss investment bank that has been hard hit by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, has warned that it could be facing further losses in property markets outside the US.

So far the bank has written down around $38 billion in relation to the US crisis and is now in the process of raising £7.8 billion via a rights issue.

Shareholders can purchase seven new shares for every 20 held, at 21 francs each, a 30% discount.

However the prospectus accompanying the offer warns that the bank’s losses on non-US residential and commercial real-estate securities could increase in the future.

The bank estimates that it has over $45 billion in US mortgage-related assets but has not published figures for its non-US mortgage related investments.

In March, UBS raised 13 billion francs from the Government of Singapore Investment Corp and a Middle Eastern investor and last week it announced the sale of sub-prime and US residential mortgage-backed securities to fund manager, BlackRock, for $15 billion.

The disposal represents a $7 billion loss on the nominal value of the loans.