UBS AG said Thursday that it will buy the U.S. prime brokerage operations of ABN Amro Holding NV for $250 million to expand its hedge fund business.
The deal for the unit, which has 190 workers and about 300 hedge fund clients, should close in the fourth quarter, UBS said.
The Zurich banking company, Europe's largest, has been trying to boost its securities underwriting and merger and acquisition advice business in the United States. It bought the U.S. retail brokerage PaineWebber Inc. for $11.5 billion in 2000.
