UBS to Acquire ABN Amro’s US Prime Brokerage Operations

The prime brokerage business to be acquired operates in several major US locations, including New York, San Francisco, Dallas and Boston. It has 190 employees, 80% of whom are located in New York and serves approximately 300 hedge fund clients. This client base, mainly focused on smaller US hedge funds, provides an excellent complement to UBS’s existing Hedge Fund Services business, of similar scale but focused on larger hedge funds. Acquiring these primarily exclusive relationships with developing hedge funds will instantly boost UBS’s client pipeline. The combination will deliver substantial synergies through combining the two business platforms.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to usual regulatory approvals and the combined unit will form part of the Equities business of UBS’s Investment Bank.

John Costas, Chairman and CEO of UBS Investment Bank said: „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. Through this acquisition UBS will become the primary broker for a new group of hedge fund clients. Expanding into this new client segment is one of our key strategic priorities for growth.”

Zurich / Basel, 25 September 2003
UBS

Prime brokerage in brief:
Prime brokerage provides a range of services to hedge fund managers and other professional money managers and includes securities lending, clearing, funding, custody and trade execution. In addition it usually includes technology and operational support.

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