Ex-colleague at UBS joins Moelis

Kenneth Moelis, who left UBS this year to launch a boutique investment bank in Los Angeles, has persuaded another former colleague to join him.

Moelis & Co. hired Robert Crowley, who ran UBS’ high-yield capital markets division, as a managing director and partner. Crowley, 35, will start this month and open the firm’s Boston office, said Elizabeth Crain, Moelis’ chief operating officer.

Moelis resigned as president of UBS Investment Bank in March, frustrated with the Zurich-based lender’s reluctance to finance leveraged buyouts. By June, when Moelis & Co. opened for business, UBS alumni such as Jeffrey Raich and Navid Mahmoodzadegan were working with their former boss.

Crowley, an investment banker before moving to UBS’ capital markets arm, will help Moelis try to win investment banking assignments from housing-material and home-building clients.