Julius Baer set to announce writeoff linked to Signa exposure - SonntagsZeitung

GENEVA (Reuters) - Wealth manager Julius Baer is set to announce a writeoff related to its exposure to property group Signa that may be around 400 million Swiss francs ($463 million), Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung said on Sunday.

Fears over the bank's ties to property and retail group Signa, whose holding company filed for insolvency in November, has already affected its share price in recent months.

One analyst had previously estimated the bank's losses in relation to Signa, controlled by Austrian magnate Rene Benko, at around 400 million Swiss francs.

The bank declined to comment. The newspaper said the writedown would be announced on Thursday.

Julius Baer has said in the past that it had exposure of 606 million Swiss francs - the largest in its private debt loan book - to a European conglomerate.

($1 = 0.8644 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Emma Farge and Oliver Hirt; Editing by)