UBS Warburg has established a global structured products unit and has lifted a number of Merrill Lynch bankers to staff it. The department will use internal debt and equity trading desks to tailor structured products for UBSÕ clients, according to an official. Harish Raghavan, managing director in MerrillÕs special projects group, will head the desk.
Adriaan Van Der Knaap, Aaron Abdelhak, Alison Holland and Luis Marti-Sanchez, all managing directors in MerrillÕs business development group, will join Raghavan. Van Der Knapp and Abdelhak are based in New York, while Sanchez will be joining the London office later this month and Holland will be based in Singapore from next month. According to an official at UBS, the firm created the group because it wanted a centralized dedicated effort to craft specific financing structures for clients and market them more effectively.
Raghavan reports to Mike Hutchins and Robert Wolf, global co-heads of fixed income, as well as Hew Jenkins, global head of equities. Wolf confirmed the hires.
At Merrill, Raghavan reported to Harry Lengsfield, coo of global debt markets. Calls to Lengsfield and Taylor were referred to Michael Duvally, spokesman, who confirmed the departures. He added that the firm has no immediate plans to replace them; their responsibilities will be absorbed by existing staff.
