In one of the largest combinations in Wall Street history, the Swiss investment bank UBS Warburg announced in July 2000 that it was acquiring PaineWebber, principally for its stable of 8,500 retail stockbrokers. 1 As part of the transaction, UBS Warburg paid retention bonuses equaling almost million in order to safeguard the most valuable components of the transaction the brokers and the client assets under their control.
