UBS hires L&G's CIO to co-head $1.8 trillion investments unit

LONDON, ‌Dec 17 (Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS said on ‍Wednesday ‌it had hired a senior executive from Britain's Legal & ⁠General to co-head ‌an expanded $1.8 trillion direct investments unit.

UBS said it would combine its direct public and private markets investments ⁠units as part of the changes, which account for the ​bulk of its asset management division's $2 ‌trillion of invested assets.

Sonja ⁠Laud, currently chief investment officer at L&G, will join UBS in July next year to ​co-head the unit, UBS said in a statement. Barry Gill, who is currently head of investments, will be the other co-head, it ​said.

The ‍wider UBS group is ​currently undergoing sweeping reorganisation as it looks to complete the integration of Credit Suisse, which it bought in a rescue deal in 2023.

Aleksandar Ivanovic, UBS's president of asset management, said that ⁠combining the two investment businesses would help it better meet client ​needs and expand.

L&G said it had begun a global search for a permanent successor to Laud, and had appointed Emiel van ‌den Heiligenberg as interim CIO.

(Reporting by Iain Withers; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Jane Merriman)