UBS relentless hunger for acquisitions in the wealth management sector was yet again confirmed with the snapping up of Italian financial int...

UBS relentless hunger for acquisitions in the wealth management sector was yet again confirmed with the snapping up of Italian financial intermediary firm Etra. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Etra deals with wealth private clients and institutions in the Italian market. It employs 25 staff in Milan and manages client assets of around €500 million ($653 million). “With this acquisition we accelerate our efforts to grow the wealth management business in Italy,” said Mauro Costa, chief executive of UBS (Italia), in a statement accompanying the annoucement. “We believe that clients and employees of Etra will benefit from UBS’s global commitment to offering independent advice across the full range of investment products”. UBS has made six acquisitions in wealth management in the last 18 months: in Latin America/Germany - Dresdner Bank Lateinamerika (December 2004), in North America - Julius Baer (December 2004), in Luxembourg - American Express Bank (November 2004), in Germany - Sauerborn Trust (November 2004) and Merrill Lynch Private Banking (October 2003), in the UK - Laing & Cruickshank and Scott Goodman Harris (January 2004).