ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss banking giant UBS will buy the U.S. Prime Brokerage unit of ABN Amro Holding N.V. of the Netherlands for US$250 million, the two companies said Thursday.
The unit employs 190 people, mostly in New York and some in San Francisco, Dallas and Boston. It has around 300 hedge fund clients.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, the companies said.
UBS said the unit is an excellent fit for UBS’s own business because it focuses more on smaller U.S. hedge funds.
“This transaction presents an opportunity to accelerate our Hedge Fund Services business strategy by building relationships with clients at an early stage of their growth,” said John Costas, chairman and CEO of UBS Investment Bank.
Prime Brokerage provides services such as securities lending, clearing, funding, custody and trade execution to hedge fund managers and other professional money managers in the United States.
Hugh Scott-Barrett, a member of the ABN Amro managing board, said, “This decision has been taken as part of our strategy to focus increased resources on a more limited range of core activities” for wholesale clients.
