Swissquote Group Holding SA (SWX: SQN), specialising in online financial and trading services has announced the acquisition of Luxembourg-based online bank and investment firm Internaxx Bank S.A. Internaxx which portrays itself as an investment firm for the expat community will allow Swissquote with unrestricted deep access to the European market.
Internaxx has been operating as a fully licensed online international bank since 2001 and has 12,000 clients mainly international investors and expats wanting an online access to international investment with a combined benefit and safety of European Bank. With Swissquote’s broad range of products and services, it will further add to the top line of a company in the future. The bank had a revenue of EUR 10 million in 2017 and generating profits since 2006.
Swissquote will be paid EUR 27.7 million as acquisition cost that includes goodwill of approximately 25 per cent. The deal will be financed internally with its own funds. The deal has been signed with Interactive Investor Limited, an online trading and investment platform which is majority controlled by J.C. Flowers & Co. and is subject to regulatory approvals. This also marks the first significant acquisition by Swissquote since its $70 million acquisition of Swiss online forex rival MIG Bank in 2013.
Swissquote Group CEO Marc Burki commenting on the acquisition said:
“Unrestricted access to the European markets is very important to Swissquote, especially as Brexit draws closer. By acquiring Internaxx, we aim to further consolidate our standing as the first choice for international clients (expats) thanks to our specialized services.”
Internaxx Bank CEO Dave Sparvell also said:
Swissquote has the resources, scale and platforms to accelerate our ambition to provide clients with the broadest range of market-leading products and services. As we integrate the Swissquote family, we will help more expats and international investors achieve their financial objectives.
With Brexit deadlines nearing by, brokerages and other financial institutions that are based in the UK are looking to separate their European operations into European Union countries. This is done in order to continue offering their services in case of a hard Brexit comes into effect at the end of March next year. And, for Swissquote it is not a different case and choosing Luxemburg as its country of choice was most expected. Luxembourg is one of the world wealthiest countries with its robust economic measures. It is one of the countries with the highest current account surpluses as a share of GDP and second largest investment fund centre in the world after the US.
