Exclusive-Top Barclays TMT investment bankers decamp for UBS -sources

By Milana Vinn and Anirban Sen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -At least seven top Barclays (LON:) Plc technology, media and telecom investment bankers have resigned to join UBS Group AG (SIX:) in the United States in the last few days, people familiar with the matter said.

The moves add to a trio of Barclays U.S. investment bankers that UBS announced it hired last month. They illustrate how UBS is beefing up its bench of U.S. talent even as it is set to inherit Credit Suisse Group AG’s investment banking group following a Swiss government-orchestrated takeover in March. Many Credit Suisse bankers are based in the United States.

UBS has hired Laurence Braham, Richard Hardegree, Richard Casavechia, Ozzie Ramos, Jason Williams, Neil Meyer and Ken Tittle from Barclays, the sources said. These bankers follow Barclays ex-colleagues Marco Valla, Jeff Hinton and Kurt Anthony, whose moves to UBS were announced in April.

The sources requested anonymity to discuss confidential personnel matters. Barclays did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while UBS declined to comment.

UBS and Credit Suisse, neighbors in their hometown of Zurich, competed head-to-head over decades for mergers and initial public offerings across the world. Sources told Reuters last month that UBS plans to retain only a small number of Credit Suisse senior bankers with strong client relationships.

Credit Suisse was planning to spin off its investment banking operations into a standalone business with veteran dealmaker Michael Klein at the helm. UBS vetoed that plan following the rescue of its Swiss peer.

At Barclays, Braham was global chair of investment banking for technology, while Hardegree served as vice chair and head of technology M&A. They worked on some of the biggest deals in the technology sector, including chip maker Broadcom (NASDAQ:) Inc’s $61 billion deal to buy business software maker VMware (NYSE:) Inc in 2022.

Casavechia was global chair of banking at Barclays. Ramos served as vice chair and head of communications, cable and satellite. Williams, Meyer and Tittle were managing directors in the investment banking group.