Saxo Bank has reportedly attracted acquisition bids from investors and rival platforms, including Interactive Brokers.
Denmark-headquartered Saxo has seen interest from bidders such as Interactive Brokers Group, Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.
Other parties interested in acquiring the firm include a consortium of Altor Equity Partners and Centerbridge Partners, which have submitted a non-binding bid.
The news comes after Saxo Bank revealed in July that it had hired Goldman Sachs to help it identify new owners.
The bank was founded 1992 and run by co-founders CEO Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen until 2017, when the latter sold his 25.71% stake to Chinese carmaker Geely and Finnish insurer Sampo. Fournais still held a 28% stake as of July.
The deal to acquire Christensen’s stake valued the business at EUR 1.325 billion.Geely now owns nearly 50% of the group, while Sampo holds almost 20% of its stock. Sampo has since offloaded its stake to asset management spin-off Mandatum.
Private equity firm and prospective Saxo bidder Altor already holds a significant 17% stake in Mandatum.
Representatives from the bidders and current shareholders refused to comment to Blo
Saxo Bank currently oversees around $120 billion of client assets globally, with its UK branch growing assets to around £2 billion last year.
The firm’s trading platform Saxo Capital Markets strategically appeals to a broad range of clients, from retail traders to hedge funds.
In a 2019 interview with the Good Money Guide, it’s UK CEO at the time Andrew Edwards said: “Saxo targets a more sophisticated, professional trader, and that includes people that are looking to create wealth or enhance their portfolio value.”
On 2 October the Denmark-headquartered bank rolled out its SaxoInvestor service for UK clients, providing access to more than 70,000 global instruments including stocks, ETFs, bonds and mutual funds.
Saxo also launched a US election trading hub earlier this month providing new clients access to commission-free trading of the most 100 popular US stocks.
Robin has more than six years of experience as a financial journalist, most of which were spent at Citywire, and covers the latest developments in the investing, trading and currency transfer space. Outside of work, he enjoys reading literature and philosophy and playing the piano.
You can contact Robin at robin@goodmoneyguide.com
