UBS Financial Services has made another deal for a regional brokerage firm. This time, the Swiss-bank made its move in Ohio and picked up McDonald Investments from KeyCorp for as much as $280 million. Last month UBS closed on Piper Jaffrey's brokerage unit that was based in Minneapolis and primarily served the upper midwest region. McDonald's business will boost UBS' presence in the eastern midwest.

UBS officials expect the deal to close in the first quarter of 2007.

Last month Marten Hoekstra, head of UBS Wealth Management US, told Reuters after the closing of the Piper deal that UBS is considering another purchase of a regional broker-dealer as long as the deal is "talent accretive."

The deal will bring UBS a branch network that includes 51 offices with 340 financial advisors in 14 states. The number of reported financial advisors does not include field support staff. According to the Discovery Database, McDonald has 683 registered reps. That would make it the 107th largest broker-dealer, according to the Discovery Database. UBS Financial has 10,355 reps and ranks as the fifth largest brokerage firm behind Ameriprise Financial, according to the source.

Also included in the sale is McDonald's Gradison affiliate that comes with an additional 115 employees in the Cincinnati area, including 52 brokers based in Cincinnati and Kenwood, Ohio.

KeyCorp CEO Henry Meyer said that the bank was selling the firm for strategic reasons and that UBS would provide the necessary capital, technology and management resources required to expand McDonald. KeyCorp will retain its separate Key Trust, Key Wealth Management and Key Private Banking business groups.

The bank acquired McDonald in 1998. 

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