A consortium which includes BlackRock and German insurer Allianz agreed to buy Viridium Group from European buyout firm Cinven for around 3.5 billion euros ($3.83 billion). The deal allows Cinven to exit its majority stake in the European consolidator of closed books of insurance policies after more than a decade of ownership. In 2013, Cinven bought Viridium from U.K. lender Lloyds Banking Group for around 300 million euros with a view of using the group as a base from which to consolidate Germany’s fragmented life-insurance market. Viridium currently employs around 900 people, has 3.4 million policy holders and oversees 67 billion euros in assets under management. Viridium will remain an independent stand-alone platform under the leadership of its current management team once the deal goes through, the consortium said in a statement on Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to approvals. The announcement confirms a Wall Street Journal report of exclusive talks between Allianz and Cinven for Viridium earlier this month.

Save for a few minutes around mid morning, and for a brief while in the final hour, the Switzerland market remained in negative territory on Wednesday as investors stayed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of policy announcements from the Federal Bank and Swiss National Bank. The Swiss National Bank is widely expected to cut its main policy rate by 25 basis points on Thursday. According to a Reuters survey, a near 90% majority of economists predicted the SNB will cut its key interest rate by 25 bps on Thursday to 0.25%. The benchmark SMI ended down 21.19 points or 0.16% at 13,040.92, after moving in a tight band between 12,996.18 and 13,071.51. UBS Group, Swisscom, Sandoz Group and Roche Holding lost 1 to 1.6%. Straumann Holding and Julius Baer, both ended nearly 1% down. Nestle, Adecco, Sika, SIG Group, Novartis and Partners Group also closed weak. ABB climbed 2.82%. Swatch Group gained nearly 1.5%, while Logitech International, Richemont, Kuehne + Nagel, VAT Group, Zurich Insurance Group, Lonza Group and Holcim advanced 0.35 to 1%.

Europe
European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday with investors largely making cautious moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy announcement. Geopolitical tensions and worries about outlook for growth due to U.S. tariffs and threats of more levies weighed on sentiment. The pan European Stoxx 600 closed 0.19% up. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.02% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.7%. Germany's DAX ended down 0.4%, while Switzerland's SMI ended lower by 0.16%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak. Netherlands, Norway and Spain ended higher, while Belgium and Finland closed flat. In the German market, Rheinmetall, Commerzbank, Volkswagen and BMW lost 2 to 4.3%. Mercedes-Benz, Brenntag, Sartorius, Bayer, Symrise, BASF and Daimler Truck Holding also closed notably lower. Zalando, Heidelberg Materials and Siemens Energy gained 3.4 to 3.7%. MTU Aero Engines climbed about 2.4%, while Adidas and Fresenius Medical Care gained 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively. In the UK market, Compass Group ended lower by about 4.7%. Croda International lost more than 2.5%. Diageo, GSK, Schroders, IMI, Smith & Nephew, Tesco, Glencore, Admiral Group and Fresnillo lost 1 to 2.2%. Games Workshop, Informa, JD Sports Fashion, Melrose Industries, M&G, Hiscox, Rentokil Initial, Shell and Kingfisher gained 1.5 to 3%. In the French market, Thales and Eurofins Scientific closed lower by about 2% and 1.1%, respectively. Pernod Ricard and Kering also ended notably lower.

United States
Following the sharp pullback seen in the previous session, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Wednesday. With the rally, the major averages largely offset Tuesday's steep losses. The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained sharply higher. The Nasdaq surged 246.67 points or 1.4 percent to 17,750.79, the S&P 500 jumped 60.63 points or 1.1 percent to 5,675.29 and the Dow climbed 383.32 points or 0.9 percent to 41,964.63. Stocks showed a notable rebound early in the session and saw further upside following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The Fed announced its widely expected decision to once again leave interest rates unchanged, but projections signaled the central bank is still likely to lower rates later this year. The Fed said it decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25 to 4.50 percent in support of its dual goals of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. At the Fed's last meeting in late January, the central bank also left rates unchanged after it lowered rates by a total of 100 basis points or 1.0 percentage point over the three previous meetings. The accompanying statement noted 'uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased,' and the Fed said it is 'attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate.' With regard to the outlook for rates, Fed officials still forecast rates in a range of 3.75 to 4.0 percent by the end of the year. Airline stocks showed a strong move back to the upside after seeing significant weakness on Tuesday, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 2.6 percent. Significant strength was also visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 2.4 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia showed no consistent trend in the course of trading on Thursday. Seoul is up slightly by 0.3 per cent. In Hong Kong, on the other hand, investors are taking profits after the recent gains, with the HSI down 1.2 per cent. In Shanghai, the Composite is down 0.1 per cent. There is no trading in Tokyo due to the early spring public holiday.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries turned positive in reaction to the Fed announcement after seeing weakness for most of the session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell 2.5 basis points to 4.256 percent after reaching a high of 4.323 percent.

Analysis
UBS lowers Siegfried to CHF 1,250 (1,309) – Buy
UBS lowers Gerresheimer to 106 (116) EUR/Buy – Trader
UBS raises Forvia to EUR 10 (9)/Neutral – Trader

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