SYDNEY, March 15 (Reuters) - Around 10 UBS Australia bankers, including top banking analyst Jonathan Mott, mining analyst Glyn Lawcock and head of financial sponsors advisory Justin Dwyer, have resigned, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The majority of the departing staff have been hired by startup Barrenjoey Capital Partners, which is partly owned by Barclays Plc and Magellan Financial Group, according to the sources. The moves were first reported in the Australia Financial Review.
Representatives for Barrenjoey did not return a call and an email requesting comment. The sources declined to be named due to the sensitive nature of the situation.
Nick Hughes, co-head of UBS in Australia and New Zealand, declined to comment on specific details of the departures, but said the head office was supportive of the expected local efforts to rebuild the team.
“UBS globally is fully committed to the Australian business and to ensuring that we have the best talent,” Hughes said.
“We will go through a period of renewal in the areas where we need to..., will make the necessary investments and look at internal candidates as part of that process.”
Mott did not return messages seeking comment, while Lawcock, one of only three mining analysts rated 5 out of 5 stars on Refinitiv Eikon, declined to comment. Both had been at the Swiss investment bank for about two decades.
Dwyer also resigned on Monday to join Barrenjoey, one of the two sources and a third person said.
Most of the departures were in the research department and will join Barrenjoey, one of the sources said. An employee in the equities business also resigned.
The staff left on Monday after receiving payment of deferred cash bonuses made last week, one of the sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.
With funding from both Barclays and Magellan, Barrenjoey was formed last year by several former UBS staff including Matt Hanning, former UBS Asia Pacific investment banking operations head, and Guy Fowler, who previously led corporate finance and equity capital markets in Australia.
It has poached several high-profile staff from its rivals, including JPMorgan and UBS.
Alongside Macquarie and Goldman Sachs, UBS is one of Australia’s largest investment banking operations, with about 650 staff in Australia and New Zealand including nearly 90 in equities excluding research, and about 130 in corporate finance.
The Swiss bank topped the Australian equity and debt capital markets ranking tables for 2020 and ranked No. 2 in the local target M&A league table behind Goldman Sachs, according to Refinitiv.
(Additional reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Jan Harvey)
Source: Reuters