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 and ultrahigh-net-worth families and individuals.
The team comes from Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, where Mr. Desai was a managing director.
Mr. Drescher declined to say how big a bump-up the signing will give to the UBS unit. He did say it will make “a meaningful change,” however.
Mr. Drescher pointed out that he was surprised that the press release from UBS reported the figures for Mr. Desai's business.
Mr. Drescher also 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 advisers in the ultrahigh-net-worth segment are “at historical lows,” and he doesn't see the Desai Group 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 has not been great for UBS.
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Last week, 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. Also last week, a
four-person team at UBS also signed on with MSSB. That team generated $5 million in trailing-12-month production. And in late October, 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.
