<body.content> <block> <p>NEW YORK, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — UBS announced today that it will acquire the US prime brokerage operations of ABN AMRO, for a price of USD 250million.</p> <p>(Logo: <a>http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030716/UBSLOGO</a> )</p> <p>The prime brokerage business to be acquired operates in several majorUS 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, mainlyfocused 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 primarilyexclusive relationships with developing hedge funds will instantly boost UBS’s client pipeline. The combination will deliver substantial synergies through combining the two businessplatforms.</p> <p>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’sInvestment Bank.</p> <p>John Costas, Chairman and CEO of UBS Investment Bank said: “This transaction presents an opportunity to accelerate our Hedge Fund Services business strategy bybuilding 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 clientsegment is one of our key strategic priorities for growth.”</p> <p>UBS is one of the world’s leading financial firms, combining financial strength with a reputation for innovation and aglobal culture that embraces change.</p> <p>UBS is the world’s largest wealth manager, a premier investment banking and securities firm, and one of the largest global asset managers. InSwitzerland, UBS is the market leader in retail and commercial banking.</p> <p>UBS, headquartered in Zurich and Basel, employs more than 68,000 people, and has operations in over 50countries and in all major financial centers. </p> <media media-type=”image”>
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</media> <datasource>UBS</datasource> </block> <block class=”contact”> <p>CONTACT: Mark Arena, +1-212-713-2027, or Christine Walton,<br/>+1-212-713-2128, or Kris Kagel, +1-212-713-8703, all for UBS</p> </block> </body.content>
