INVESTORS OFFSHORE - NEWS
UBS To Buy Swiss Mutual Fund Firm, Ulrika Lomas, Tax-news.com, Brussels 10 November 2000
UBS Asset Management, a unit of Swiss financial services giant UBS, announced this week that it is to acquire Zurich-based Fondvest AG, an asset management company specializing in independent advisory and distribution services in the fund business. Fondvest offers clients such as banks, insurance companies and asset managers, but also private individuals, access to a comprehensive range of funds from Swiss and foreign providers. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
UBS has bought Fondvest in order to boost its sale of third-party funds. UBS said in a statement: 'With this move UBS agreed to buy secured access to an independent service platform in the dynamic growth market of open fund distribution.'
Fondvest was formed in 1993 and offers - via a central trading and advisory platform - access to over 1,600 investment funds from 60 domestic and foreign fund providers. The company is primarily oriented towards banks, insurance companies and asset managers that want a simple way to offer their clients a comprehensive and independent range of funds from a single source. The firm will continue to be run autonomously by its current management team under its existing name.
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