MAM
Bank of America hires UBS dealmaker Richard Hardegree for M&A
Wall Street’s talent war is heating up again, and this time the dealmakers themselves are the hottest acquisition targets.
MUMBAI: Bank of America has hired veteran UBS banker Richard Hardegree as vice chair of mergers and acquisitions, strengthening its technology dealmaking bench as global M&A activity gathers pace once again. According to an internal memo seen by Reuters, Hardegree will join the second-largest US lender in August and operate out of Palo Alto, California right in the heart of Silicon Valley’s high-stakes boardroom action.
With more than 30 years of M&A investment banking experience, Hardegree is widely known for his work across the semiconductor and technology sectors, areas rapidly regaining momentum as artificial intelligence investment fuels a fresh wave of corporate dealmaking.
At Bank of America, he will report to Eamon Brabazon and Ivan Farman, the bank’s co-heads of global M&A investment banking.
The move is the latest sign that Wall Street’s biggest banks are once again in hiring mode as confidence returns to the mergers market. Earlier this year, Bank of America hired four senior bankers from rival firms as part of a broader push to expand its market share in technology transactions.
Hardegree arrives with a heavyweight deal sheet. At UBS, where he most recently served as vice chair of technology investment banking, he advised on several major transactions including Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, Veeco’s merger with Axcelis, and SAP’s sale of Qualtrics to Silver Lake.
His appointment also lands at a time when the global deal machine is roaring back to life.
According to Dealogic data, nearly $2 trillion worth of deals have been announced so far this year, a sharp 32 per cent jump compared to the same period last year. Bankers and corporate advisers are increasingly betting that M&A activity will continue accelerating through 2026, helped by a more balanced regulatory environment in the US and growing investment in AI-driven businesses.
In many ways, the hiring reflects a familiar Wall Street truth: when the market smells a deal boom, the first deals often happen inside the banks themselves.
