CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UBS Wealth Management Americas (WMA) announced today the Desai Group, led by Managing Director and Private Wealth Advisor Ajay Desai, has joined the firm’s Private Wealth Management (PWM) office in Chicago. John Staab and Frank Pellicori, both Senior Vice Presidents, have also joined the firm with Desai.
With trailing twelve month revenue of $8.3 million and assets under management of $1.7 billion, the Desai Group delivers comprehensive wealth management strategies to family offices, ultra high net worth families and individuals. Working with clients' tax and legal counsel, they specialize in creating custom solutions that address estate planning and concentration issues as they relate to wealth transfer and liquidity for their clients.
The group also advises and provides access to capital markets for institutional entities such as family offices, hedge funds and private equity firms. Desai’s particular capabilities include private equity, equity capital markets and market sensitive transactions.
Dennis Drescher, Managing Director and Head of the Chicago PWM office, said: “We are pleased to have Ajay and his team join us. Their extensive experience and proven success in addressing the unique issues facing ultra high net worth families and individuals underscore the firm’s commitment to focusing on what matters most to our clients.”
Desai and his team join UBS from Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, where Desai was a Managing Director and Private Wealth Advisor. Prior to that, Desai worked in Merrill Lynch's Private Banking and Investment Group. Before that, he managed a technology-focused hedge fund, co-founded a cash management firm and served as a consultant with Anderson Consulting.
In addition to being named one of Barron's Top 100 Advisors (2011) in the US, Desai also was named to Barron’s Top 1000 Advisors – ranking fourth in Illinois – and to Registered Rep's 2010 & 2011 Top 100 Wirehouse Advisors List.
Desai received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
About UBS Wealth Management Americas:
Wealth Management Americas provides advice-based relationships through its financial advisors who deliver a fully integrated set of products and services specifically designed to address the needs of high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals and families. It includes the former Wealth Management US business area as well as the domestic Canadian business and the international business booked in the United States.
About UBS
UBS draws on its 150-year heritage to serve private, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland. We combine our wealth management, investment banking and asset management businesses with our Swiss operations to deliver superior financial solutions.
UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in over 50 countries, with about 37% of its employees working in the Americas, 37% in Switzerland, 16% in the rest of Europe and 10% in Asia Pacific. UBS employs about 66,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).