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KBC Financial Products has lured Brandon Way, a director in equity derivatives trading at UBS in Stamford, Conn., in a similar role.

KBC Asset Management in Belgium has purchased barrier options in order to structure an investment product based on a basket of four equity indices.

Chris Vogelgesang, head of global markets in the hybrid products group at Merrill Lynch in London, has been promoted to head of complex equity-linked products for EMEA.

Merrill Lynch is readying a proprietary trading desk in Tokyo and has recently brought over two Royal Bank of Scotland veterans to launch the effort.

Pacific Investment Management Co., the 800-lb gorilla of the fixed income market, is looking to more than double the size of its credit derivatives portfolio.

Nikko Citigroup recently lost Sacha Sardo-Infirri, senior equity derivatives trader in Tokyo and has hired Remi Colinmaire, equity derivatives trader from BNP Paribas, in a similar role, according to Robert Nakamura, managing director and head of equity derivatives trading in Tokyo.

Credit protection on U.K. food retailer J Sainsbury surged last week on the back of reports in U.K. Sunday newspaper The Observer that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the U.S. venture capital company, was interested in buying the supermarket chain.

UBS is setting up a new fixed income business in its principal finance operation and has transferred Michael Mahaffy, head of equity risk management products, to launch the business.

Omar Zane, credit structurer at UBS in London, has resigned. Meanwhile, Franca Jarc, a structured credit products marketer covering Italy at Goldman Sachs in London, is believed to be joining UBS in a tax-structuring role.

Wachovia Securities has hired Thomas Birkett, head convertible bond trader at CIBC World Markets in New York, to head convertible bond trading, which includes convertible arbitrage strategies.

A new generation of equity volatility products that financial institutions are pitching to Swiss and German portfolio managers could meet an indifferent response in the U.K., according to a straw poll of fund managers conducted by DW.

Alfredo Mattera, a high-yield analyst who focused on special situations (distressed and cross-over credits) at Barclays Capital in London, recently left the firm to take a position at hedge fund Polygon Investment Partners.