Australia's most powerful dealmaker is leaving UBS – after 25 years with the Swiss bank.
«I'm still young,» UBS investment banker Matthew Grounds joked in an interview with «The Sydney Morning Herald». The 49-year-old star dealmaker doesn't know where he is headed next, but he is retiring from UBS at year-end, according to a memorandum seen by finews.com.
He will be replaced by co-heads Anthony Sweetman and Nick Hughes, who have both been with UBS for more than 20 years. Grounds, a long-time confidante of Australian billionaire James Packer, advanced to chairman of investment banking for Asia-Pacific at the Swiss bank three years ago, a role which oversaw UBS’s equities, fixed income and currency and investment banking divisions throughout the region.
He has long enjoyed golden-child status in Australia, which has long been a bright spot in UBS' investment bank. Much of that is down to Grounds, who is widely seen as the country's preeminent dealmaker. He has likened his role as an investment banker to that of Keith Richards in the Rolling Stones – a «background» one.
