UBS bolsters structured products capabilities with acquisition of Luxembourg Financial Group

UBS has beefed up its structured products offering in Europe with the €25 million acquisition of Luxembourg Financial Group, bringing with it chief executive Johan Groothaert

Johan Groothaert, CEO of Luxembourg Financial Group

UBS has strengthened its structured products business in Europe with the €25 million acquisition of Luxembourg Financial Group, a London-based structured products boutique. The purchase, which is scheduled to close in the second quarter of 2011, brings with it Johan Groothaert, chief executive of Luxembourg Financial Group and formerly head of structured products at Deutsche Bank in London.

The boutique will be become part of UBS' global equities division and reunite Groothaert with Yassine Bouhara, co-head of global equities at UBS and before that holder of a similar position at Deusche Bank. The 22 personnel that will make the move from LFG will form Investment Products & Platforms Group, a new group that Groothaert will lead. He will report to Bouhara and be part of UBS global equities committee.

The new group will sit within equities and be a structuring group, alongside the equity derivatives (trading and sales) group headed up by Jason Barron; global synthetic equities; cash equities; and prime services. "Long-term, there is clearly an aspiration that there would be a way on leveraging the new team across multi-asset classes," says a spokesman for the Swiss bank.

UBS flagged the deal as "an important building block in achieving the division's strategic aim of expanding its investment products offering for its global equity derivatives and global synthetic equities businesses" in a release issued early on April 14.

Luxembourg Financial Group was founded in 2007 and has offices in Luxembourg and London. The company is privately owned.