BAER WITH THEM: The Julius Baer Group says it has agreed to pay 860 million francs ($879 million) to buy Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch wealth management operations outside the U.S.

OF INTEREST: The Swiss private banking group says the deal will boost its assets by about 40 percent, adding around 81 billion francs to the assets manages.

RULES & REGS: Chief Executive Boris Collardi said in a statement that the acquisition should receive regulatory approvals by early next year.