UBS lands $1.7B team
Dennis Drescher, managing director and head of UBS Wealth Management Americas' Chicago private-wealth-management office, confirmed that the unit has landed financial adviser Ajay Desai and two other key members of his Desai Group
Chalk up a big win for UBS.
Dennis Drescher, managing director and head of UBS Wealth Management Americas’ Chicago private-wealth-management office, confirmed that the unit has landed financial adviser Ajay Desai and two other key members of his Desai Group. The group manages $1.7 billion in assets for family offices, as well as ultrahigh-net-worth families and individuals.
The team comes from Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, where Mr. Desai was a managing director.
Mr. Drescher pointed out that he was surprised that the press release from UBS reported the figures for Mr. Desai’s business.
Mr. Drescher wouldn’t discuss the package UBS put together for Mr. Desai and his team, John Staab and Frank Pellicori, which generated a hefty $8.3 million in trailing-12-month revenue. He said that moves by big financial advisers in the ultrahigh-net-worth segment are “at historical lows,” and he doesn’t see this move as the beginning of a trend.
Maybe not, but there have been plenty of comings and goings at the wirehouses of late, and much of the news hasn’t been great for UBS.
Two weeks ago, adviser Brad Nettune jumped from UBS to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. At the time of his departure, Mr. Nettune managed $500 million in assets for UBS.
Two weeks ago, a four-person team at UBS signed on with MSSB. That team generated $5 million in trailing-12-month production.
And late last month, a $1 billion team from Bank of America Merrill Lynch — including members of the brokerage’s elite Circle of Champions — also jumped to MSSB.
Morgan Stanley didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the Desai defection.
Email Lavonne Kuykendall at [email protected]
Learn more about reprints and licensing for this article.
