Bank of America Sells Merrill Lynch International Unit

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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The Julius Baer Group has announced that Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is selling Merrill Lynch’s international wealth management business to the Swiss private banking firm for approximately 860 million Swiss francs ($884.8 million), or 1.2% of the 72 billion francs ($74.1 billion) the business has under management that will be transferred.

Julius Baer says its assets under management will swell by 40% with the deal to 251 billion francs ($258.2 billion). About two-thirds of the assets it will acquire are domiciled in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

To fund the deal, Julius Baer will use a combination of cash on hand and proceeds from proposed capital raises, which includes bringing in Bank of America as a shareholder, according to the press release announcing the deal.

European investors did not appear to be impressed with the news. Shares in Julius Baer retreated as much as 6.1% early Monday on the Swiss bourse.

But on Wall St., shares of Bank of America were up about 1% to $7.82 in early trading. That is in a 52-week range of $4.92 to $10.10. Analysts had a mean price target on the shares of $9.30 before this announcement.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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