UBS hires defense banker from Lazard

NEW YORK (Reuters) - UBS AG <UBSN.VX> said on Wednesday it has hired defense industry banker Michael Ruppert from Lazard Ltd <LAZ.N>, as part of its continuing effort to beef up the industrial banking group.

Ruppert, who will be based in New York, will join UBS in September and report to Karl Knapp.

Prior to Lazard, Ruppert spent eight years in mergers & acquisitions at Lehman Brothers focused on the aerospace and defense industry. He began his career in 1995 with Lockheed Martin Corp <LMT.N> before moving to Lehman in 2000.

(Reporting by Nadia Damouni and Soyoung Kim; editing by Tim Dobbyn)