Finance

Hertz surges after Bill Ackman takes big stake in the rental car firm

Published

2 months ago

April 16, 2025

Bill Ackman, Pershing Square Capital Management CEO, speaking at the Delivering Alpha conference in NYC on Sept. 28th, 2023.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square took a sizable stake in Hertz, the rental-car company that exited from bankruptcy four years ago, sparking a big rally.

Shares of Hertz surged 56% on Wednesday after a regulatory filing revealed Pershing Square had built a 4.1% position as of the end of 2024. Pershing has significantly increased the position — to 19.8% — through shares and swaps, becoming Hertz’ second largest shareholder, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC’s Scott Wapner.

Hertz

The person said Ackman’s investment firm received an exemption from the SEC to delay the filing of the position until Wednesday, which allowed it to accumulate substantially more shares.

Hertz has been a troubled company for much of the past decade, including bankruptcy during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Following its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021, the company bet heavy on all-electric vehicles, specifically Teslas, which cost the company billions following a significant decline in their residual values.

When reporting its 2024 fourth-quarter earnings in February, it revealed a $2.9 billion loss for the year, which included a $245 million loss on the sale of EVs during the fourth quarter.

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Published

9 hours ago

June 6, 2025

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Finance

Swiss government proposes tough new capital rules in major blow to UBS

Published

11 hours ago

June 6, 2025

Business Finance News

A sign in German that reads “part of the UBS group” in Basel on May 5, 2025.

Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images

The Swiss government on Friday proposed strict new capital rules that would require banking giant UBS to hold an additional $26 billion in core capital, following its 2023 takeover of stricken rival Credit Suisse.

The measures would also mean that UBS will need to fully capitalize its foreign units and carry out fewer share buybacks.

“The rise in the going-concern requirement needs to be met with up to USD 26 billion of CET1 capital, to allow the AT1 bond holdings to be reduced by around USD 8 billion,” the government said in a Friday statement, referring to UBS’ holding of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds.

The Swiss National Bank said it supported the measures from the government as they will “significantly strengthen” UBS’ resilience.

“As well as reducing the likelihood of a large systemically important bank such as UBS getting into financial distress, this measure also increases a bank’s room for manoeuvre to stabilise itself in a crisis through its own efforts. This makes it less likely that UBS has to be bailed out by the government in the event of a crisis,” SNB said in a Friday statement.

‘Too big to fail’

UBS has been battling the specter of tighter capital rules since acquiring the country’s second-largest bank at a cut-price following years of strategic errors, mismanagement and scandals at Credit Suisse.

The shock demise of the banking giant also brought Swiss financial regulator FINMA under fire for its perceived scarce supervision of the bank and the ultimate timing of its intervention.

Swiss regulators argue that UBS must have stronger capital requirements to safeguard the national economy and financial system, given the bank’s balance topped $1.7 trillion in 2023, roughly double the projected Swiss economic output of last year. UBS insists it is not “too big to fail” and that the additional capital requirements — set to drain its cash liquidity — will impact the bank’s competitiveness.

At the heart of the standoff are pressing concerns over UBS’ ability to buffer any prospective losses at its foreign units, where it has, until now, had the duty to back 60% of capital with capital at the parent bank.

Higher capital requirements can whittle down a bank’s balance sheet and credit supply by bolstering a lender’s funding costs and choking off their willingness to lend — as well as waning their appetite for risk. For shareholders, of note will be the potential impact on discretionary funds available for distribution, including dividends, share buybacks and bonus payments.

“While winding down Credit Suisse’s legacy businesses should free up capital and reduce costs for UBS, much of these gains could be absorbed by stricter regulatory demands,” Johann Scholtz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said in a note preceding the FINMA announcement.

“Such measures may place UBS’s capital requirements well above those faced by rivals in the United States, putting pressure on returns and reducing prospects for narrowing its long-term valuation gap. Even its long-standing premium rating relative to the European banking sector has recently evaporated.”