Updated with correction
UBS Group agreed to sell a 51% stake in its fund distribution platform to post-trade services provider Clearstream for 389 million Swiss francs ($399.6 million), in an effort to focus on its asset management capabilities, a spokeswoman said.
Following the deal, which is set to close in the second half of 2020, Clearstream's combined fund desk — renamed Fondcenter — will have $230 billion in assets under administration and connect some 340 distributors with more than 450 fund providers.
Clearstream will provide fund services to UBS' Global Wealth Management and asset management divisions and the corporate and institutional clients unit of personal and corporate banking.
"Through this transaction, and our long-term cooperation arrangements, we can achieve greater scale and breadth of offering for our clients and create significant value for our shareholders," UBS Group CEO Sergio P. Ermotti said in a news release.
UBS will initially retain a 48% stake but could later sell it to Clearstream,which is a subsidiary of Germany-based stock exchange Deutsche Boerse.
"Our distributor customers will benefit from extended global fund provider coverage, while asset manager clients will have direct access to UBS GWM premier distribution network as well as access to Clearstream distribution reach," said Stephan Leithner, member of the executive board of Deutsche Boerse and chairman of Clearstream, in a separate news release. "We expect to generate significant synergies from combining our fund distribution businesses."
UBS will see a post-tax gain of $600 million following the transaction, the firm said in its news release.
