By Poppy Trowbridge
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, agreed to sell its agricultural and Canadian energy-commodities units to JPMorgan Chase & Co, and said it may dispose of other commodities operations.
UBS will keep its index and exchange-traded commodities units as well as its precious metals operations, the Zurich-based bank said in an e-mailed statement today. About 30 people will transfer to JPMorgan as a result of the sale, which will close in the first quarter of 2009. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
UBS, which received a $59.2 billion aid package from the Swiss government and central bank this year, said in October it would sell divisions and reduce staff to focus on the securities and advisory businesses. The bank has slashed 9,000 jobs since the credit crunch began and posted almost $49 billion in losses and writedowns, more than any other European lender.
Chairman Peter Kurer said in October that the bank would eliminate more jobs. About 1,900 positions in the investment banking, equities and fixed income units may be eliminated, two people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.
UBS fell 3.8 percent to 13.59 Swiss francs at 3:55 p.m. in Zurich trading. The stock has dropped 71 percent this year.
JPMorgan said in a separate statement today that Brian Cumming, a managing director in London, will run the New York- based bank’s Calgary office.
To contact the reporter on this story: Poppy Trowbridge in London at ptrowbridge@bloomberg.net
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