Once you’ve sold a large international insurance company, what do you do with the proceeds of the sale? That’s the problem facing Oswald Gruebel, the head of international financial services group Credit Suisse.

Faced with the fact that suitable acquisitions aren’t that easy to find in a buoyant market, he has announced that if he can’t find an attractive acquisition, he will return some of the Winterthur sale proceeds to shareholders.

Axa purchased Winterthur from Credit Suisse Group last month for €7.9 billion ($13.5 billion).

Mr Gruebel told market analysts last week an acquisition was on the cards but refused to reveal who the group is chasing. A medium-sized asset manager is most likely.

The bulk of the freed-up assets resulting from the Winterthur sale is likely to be invested into Credit Suisse’s investment banking units.