ZURICH, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Swiss blue-chip SMI .SSMI was seen opening 0.14 percent up at 8,110 points on Monday, according to premarket indications by bank Julius Baer JBPRE01 .
Here are some of the main factors that may affect Swiss stocks:
LONZA LONN.S
Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Lonza Group AG is in advanced talks to acquire Capsugel, a U.S. maker of capsule products and other drug delivery systems, for more than $5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. more click LONN.S
ZURICH INSURANCE ZURN.S
Switzerland's Zurich Insurance Group has agreed to buy Australia's biggest travel insurance provider, Cover-More Group CVO.AX , for A$741 million ($551 million), stepping up its investment in the Australian market. more click ZURN.S
NOVARTIS NOVN.S
Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported Novartis could be interested in buying German drugmaker Stada STAGn.DE , citing rumours from London. A Novartis spokesman said the company does not comment on rumors and speculation. Stada also declined to comment. On Friday, Financial blog Betaville cited two sources as saying Stada is working with Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) GS.N bankers after receiving informal expressions of interest from possible buyers more news, click NOVN.S
CREDIT SUISSE CSGN.S
Newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag reported Credit Suisse could cut an extra 4,000 to 5,000 jobs at group level by 2018 under the bank's new cost saving measures, without saying how it got its information. Credit Suisse declined to comment on the report. On Wednesday, Credit Suisse pledged to cut another 1 billion Swiss francs in costs, with Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam not saying how many additional layoffs there will be to the 6,000 already planned for 2016 Swiss bank said on Friday it would reduce the minimum redemption amount of two popular exchange-traded notes, used to bet on the price of oil, from 25,000 to 500. more news, click CSGN.S
RICHEMONT CFR.S
The Swiss luxury good company has reached an agreement with employees on a new round of job cuts, a labour union said on Friday, adding the layoffs were smaller than originally planned. more news, click CFR.S
SWISS BANKS
Harald Nedwed, head of Migros Bank, told the NZZ am Sonntag that more banks in Switzerland may start to pass on negative interest rates to clients in the near future. Nedwed said customers with seven-digit accounts balances were the ones who would most likely be effected.
COMPANY STATEMENTS CPR-CH
* Partners Group PGHN.S said it invested A$250 million dollars in a wind farm project in Australia. PGHN.S
* Julius Baer BAER.S said the Zurich district court issued its judgment in the case of the Bundesanstalt fuer vereinigungsbedingte Sonderaufgaben versus Julius Baer and ruled in favour of Julius Baer. The ruling is not yet legally binding, the bank said. BAER.S
* Raiffeisen CEO Patrik Gisel told the Neue Zuercher Zeitung the bank is looking opportunistically at making acquisitons.
* Switzerland's Federal Council said it had appointed Renzo Simoni as the state representative on the board of Swisscom SCMN.S . SCMN.S
* AC Immune ACIU.O said its partner Genentech, a member of the Roche ROG.S group, presented data to support the binding and increased dosing of its Alzheimer's therapy crenezumab. ROG.S
* Baloise BALN.S said the Swiss insurer is increasing the volume of share repurchases announced in October 2016 from one million to three million. Baloise is thus counteracting the dilution of earnings per share resulting from a convertible bond that reached maturity in November 2016. BALN.S
* Novartis Ag NOVN.S said two pivotal phase III studies in neovascular age-related macular degeneration did not show additional improvement in best corrected visual acuity, indicating that efficacy of lucentis monotherapy was not improved by the addition of pegpleranib. NOVN.S
* Helvetia Group HELN.S says Adrian Kollegger and Achim Baumstark will join the newly established Executive Management as Head of Non-Life Switzerland and Chief Technology Officer, respectively. HELN.S
* Sempione Retail announced the result of its public tender offer for all publicly held bearer shares of Charles Vögele Holding Ltd, saying it holds a 95 percent stake. VCH.S Sempione said the offer extends to a total of 7.1 million Voegele shares. VCH.S
ECONOMY M-CH