UBS plans to sell its Correspondent Services Corporation, a division of UBS PaineWebber, to Fidelity Investments.

The price tag on the deal is a reported $340 million, according to the Boston Herald. The deal is the first by Fidelity's National Financial unit, which will take over the UBS unit, in at least 15 years. National Financial will offer employment to all 115 in the unit, according to the report. The purchase will more than double National Financial's volume as CSC clears roughly 78,000 trades a day, compared to the Fidelity units' 66,000,

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year. UBS PaineWebber has agreed to provide certain services to clients of the acquired business during the next year to ensure an orderly transition.

CSC provides clearance, execution, settlement, administrative and management information services to non-NYSE brokerage clients and others within the financial services industry.

"This acquisition fits strategically with Fidelity and should benefit the correspondent clearing clients of both companies," said Robert L. Reynolds, Fidelity vice chairman and COO. "We are committed to this business and believe this combination will help ensure our ability to continue to provide clients with the technology, products and service they require to further strengthen and grow their businesses."

"This transaction reinforces UBS PaineWebber's focus on our primary business -- providing wealth management services to affluent individual investors," said Joseph J. Grano, Jr., chairman and CEO, UBS PaineWebber. "We believe CSC represents an attractive opportunity for Fidelity to add more than 150 clients to its significant correspondent clearing business. Increasingly, this business requires scale, and this transaction enables Fidelity to accelerate the growth of its core clearing business." 

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