UBS Names U.S. Head for Complex Equities Group

UBS AG(UBSN.VX) has named a new head of its U.S. group that works on complex stock financings and investments for companies and wealthy individuals.

Alan Rifkin, who joins from Citigroup(C), will run the Americas unit of its Strategic Equity Solutions Group from New York starting in May, according to an internal memo.

The Swiss bank has been shrinking investment-banking footprint, while bulking up parts of its equity underwriting business, especially in the U.S.

The so-called “strategic equity solutions” business focuses on stock underwriting transactions for companies or wealthy individuals, such as family business owners, that are trickier than a typical IPO or public stock sale.

That includes pre-IPO stock placements, a market that has grown sharply over the last few years as companies stay private longer and reach multi-billion-dollar valuations before going public.

It also works with investors and companies that want to lock-in gains for a volatile private or public stock investment without selling the shares, through the use of derivatives.

Mr. Rifkin spent 15 years in Citi’s equity capital markets group. Before that, he was a lawyer at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. He will report to global head of equity solutions Chicco di Stasi, who started the group in 2010, and to the U.S.-based head of Americas equity capital markets, James Palmer.