Capitolis agrees $200 million cash deal for eSecLending
Capitolis has agreed to buy eSecLending for $200 million in cash. Parthenon is selling and investing, while antitrust clearance is still required to close.
Capitolis has agreed to buy eSecLending for $200 million in cash, and I would not treat that figure as money that has already moved. Parthenon Capital is selling the securities lender and, in the same transaction, investing in Capitolis. The September 29, 2026 release is an agreement, not a closing. Customary conditions still include regulatory approvals and antitrust clearance.
eSecLending, across a 26-year history, lends securities for pension funds, insurance companies, and asset managers to major global banks. The release says that network includes every major bank and prime broker. Globes reports that Capitolis was founded in 2017, so a younger platform firm has agreed to pay cash for an older agency business. Capitolis calls the purchase its fourth strategic acquisition in five years, placing securities lending beside financial resource optimization, repo, and financing. CTech says Capitolis has raised approximately $300 million. On that approximate total, the $200 million cash price is about two-thirds of the capital raised.
What the cash price leaves outside
The release publishes no revenue, no volume, and no client count. It does draw a legal line. eSecLending (Europe) Limited is not included, and it will continue to provide services to eSecLending. If the deal closes, Capitolis buys the rest of the company and still depends on a service firm it does not own. FOW, on September 29, 2026, restated the consideration as $200 million, or £151 million, and still described an agreement to acquire.
Signing is not clearance
Gil Mandelzis, chief executive officer and founder of Capitolis, told Calcalist, in CTech's same-day account, "We began discussing the acquisition a year ago, and it has now been finalized. This is our fourth acquisition." He said the company is based in Boston and other US cities, has been a partner "for a long time," and added, "They have 120 employees who will join our 200-strong workforce." Finalized, in that sentence, is the signing. The company release and CTech both still require regulatory approvals and antitrust clearance. Neither names the agency or gives a date.
Who is actually on the record
The Capitolis release, Globes, CTech, and CFOtech quote no pension fund, insurer, asset manager, prime broker, or rival securities-lending agent. The named outsiders are advisors. FT Partners is exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Capitolis, and WilmerHale is its legal advisor. Berenson & Company and Raymond James advised eSecLending, with Troutman Pepper Locke and Debevoise & Plimpton as legal advisors. Securities lending already has an official forum this desk has reported, the Bank of England's securities lending committee, but those minutes are not a comment on this deal.
CFOtech names Capitolis bank shareholders that include Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, State Street, and UBS. The release does not say those banks are eSecLending clients. It does say the target lends to major global banks, so the shareholder list and the borrower market overlap as categories, not as a proven roster. This desk has covered EquiLend's collateral-trading tools for funding desks and LCH's addition of euro repo to sponsored clearing. Capitolis is buying the agent relationship, not those pipes.
What the two management teams said
Okan Pekin, president of Capitolis, said the firms have "already been partnering to introduce new solutions to the market," and that together they add "securities lending capabilities that naturally complement our existing set of solutions." Craig Starble, chief executive officer of eSecLending, said joining Capitolis "enables us to expand the solutions we bring to market." Mandelzis called it "a transformational acquisition" and said eSecLending "adds a highly complementary new business that aligns closely with our clients' evolving needs." The release frames the cash as reach into that asset-owner network, on top of a partnership Pekin says already exists.
Agreed cash is still short of control
Other agreed sales on this desk separate a headline price from control. Bluevine has agreed to sell to Valley for about $340 million, and Chime plans to buy partner Stride Bank for $590 million in cash. Capitolis is making a similar move in securities finance, with one extra turn: the sellers are Parthenon Capital, which CTech calls a private equity fund, and eSecLending's management, and Parthenon is investing in the buyer. The release does not state the size of that investment.
Closing waits on approvals the release does not name. Until they arrive, eSecLending (Europe) Limited keeps providing services from outside the group Capitolis has agreed to buy, so lending, repo, and financing would still run through a supplier, not a subsidiary. If clearance comes, a firm Globes dates to 2017 adds a 26-year asset-owner network, and 120 people join a 200-person company, on the figures Mandelzis gave Calcalist. If it does not, the $200 million does not move. The release offers no calendar either way.
Reporting by Rick Steves. Filed 1 October 2026, 10:55 GMT.
Senior Reporter, Regulation and Fintech
Rick Steves has seen business and economics through many lenses. He joined the financial services industry in 2009, and has been a financial journalist since 2011.
