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Bank of America (BAC.N) has hired UBS (UBSG.S) investment banker Richard Hardegree to serve as the Wall Street titan's vice chair of mergers and acquisitions, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Friday.
Hardegree, who brings more than 30 years of M&A investment banking experience and focuses on the semiconductor sector, will join the second-largest U.S. lender in August and be based in Palo Alto, California.
He will report to Eamon Brabazon and Ivan Farman, BofA's co-heads of global M&A investment banking.
Wall Street's biggest banks are ramping up hiring from rivals, encouraged by a rebound in dealmaking. BofA, earlier this year, hired four veteran bankers from competitors as it steps up efforts to expand its market share in tech dealmaking.
Hardegree, a graduate of Columbia Law School, most recently served as the vice chair of technology investment banking at UBS.
He has advised on a raft of big deals in the technology sector, including Broadcom on the VMware acquisition, Veeco on its merger with Axcelis, and SAP on the sale of Qualtrics to Silver Lake.
Dealmakers are optimistic that mergers and acquisitions activity will continue to accelerate in 2026, underpinned by a more balanced regulatory regime in the U.S. and investment in artificial intelligence technologies.
Roughly $2 trillion in deals has been announced this year, a 32% jump from the same period last year, according to data compiled by Dealogic.
A Bank of America spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo.
