Tag Archives: Banking

Alantra reorganizes its Investment Banking division to accelerate global growth ambitions

Alantra
  • The Firm announces the appointment of Miguel Hernandez as CEO of Investment Banking, based in London, and of Andy Currie and Franck Portais as Co-Chairmen
  • In Germany, Jan Caspar Hoffmann has joined the Firm as CEO and Managing Partner of Alantra Germany to develop Alantra’s Frankfurt office into one of the Firm’s key international hubs, next to London, Paris, and Madrid
  • The Firm has also promoted Philipp Krohn to CEO of Alantra in the US, based in New York and Boston, and Javier García-Palencia to CEO of Alantra Investment Banking in Spain
  • These appointments are part of a series of organizational changes aimed at fostering stronger integration and offering further value-accretive specialized services within Alantra’s Investment Banking division

London – Alantra, the independent global mid-market financial services firm, is pleased to announce the appointment of Miguel Hernandez as CEO and Andy Currie and Franck Portais as Co-Chairmen of the investment banking division, among other leadership appointments across the business. These changes aim to foster stronger collaboration and offer additional and value-accretive specialized services globally with cross-functional teams, focused, among others, on Advanced Analytics & AI and the Energy Transition. This is a natural extension of Alantra’s traditional offering and symbolic of the next phase of the Firm’s evolution.

Miguel Hernández, who has been with Alantra for over 20 years, has been appointed CEO of the Firm’s Investment Banking business and will be based in London. He has an extensive track record in cross-border and Spanish M&A deals, both on the sell- and buy-side, especially in real estate, and also in the industrial and consumer sectors. In addition to his managerial responsibilities, Miguel will coordinate the coverage of large multifunds and support business generation in Spain during a transition period.

Andy Currie and Franck Portais have been appointed Co-Chairmen based in London and Paris, respectively. They have led the development of Alantra’s London and Paris offices into two of Alantra’s principal hubs. Andy led the integration of Catalyst Corporate Finance with Alantra in 2017 and focuses on the professional services and industrials sectors, as well as advising private equity, bank consortia, and other complex shareholder structures. Franck leads the Paris office and has over 20 years of experience in corporate finance, having advised entrepreneurs, families, corporate and private equity funds in France and Europe.

In Germany, Jan Caspar Hoffmann has joined Alantra as the new CEO and Managing Partner of Alantra Germany. He has 25 years of investment banking experience, having worked in leading positions across bulge bracket banks and global independent firms in Frankfurt and London (Merrill Lynch, Société Générale, Moelis & Company). Jan Caspar has also been active as an investor and advisor to predominantly technology firms regarding disposal processes and strategic partnerships.

Philipp Krohn has been promoted to CEO of Alantra USA, having been with the Firm since 2010. His last role was Partner and Head of Corporate Development. Philipp will be based in Boston and New York and lead the expansion of Alantra’s US operations from there. Javier García-Palencia has been promoted to CEO of Alantra Investment Banking Spain. He has been with Alantra since 2015 and used to be Head of Debt. Javier has over 18 years of Corporate & Investment Banking experience in New York, London, Lisbon, and Madrid. Miguel Hernández, Andy Currie, and Franck Portais said: “With the series of appointments, we have laid the ground for a new chapter of growth focused on meeting the demands of sector specialization, the digital age, and the energy transition. In the coming weeks, we will be announcing the addition of further highly reputable professionals who will bring expertise in key sectors to our Firm. We want to grow across sectors and products and continue to position ourselves in transversal themes affecting mid-sized businesses across industries. We now have a strong team across our key international hubs to deliver on these growth opportunities.”

Categories: News People

Tags:

Blackstone and Sixth Street Complete Sale of Kensington Mortgages to Barclays Bank UK PLC

Blackstone

London – March 1, 2023 – Blackstone (NYSE: BX) and Sixth Street today announced that funds affiliated with Blackstone Tactical Opportunities (“Blackstone”) and Sixth Street, have completed the previously announced sale of Kensington Mortgages (“Kensington”), the fast-growing specialist mortgage lender, to Barclays Bank UK PLC (“Barclays”).

Kensington, which is based in Maidenhead, has around 600 employees and originated approximately £1.9 billion of mortgages (including retentions) in the year ended 31 March 2022. Blackstone and Sixth Street jointly owned the business since 2015 during which time Kensington improved its processes and expanded its product offerings while achieving an extended period of accelerated growth.

The business is recognised in the industry for having a market-leading data and technology platform, which has facilitated profitable growth, product innovation and exceptional loan underwriting performance.

The transaction was announced on June 24, 2022.

About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $975 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Sixth Street
Sixth Street is a global investment firm with approximately $65 billion in assets under management and committed capital. The firm uses its long-term flexible capital, data-enabled capabilities, and One Team culture to develop themes and offer solutions to companies across all stages of growth. Sixth Street’s London-based presence was formed in 2011 to invest in businesses and assets across Europe. Founded in 2009, Sixth Street has more than 400 team members including over 180 investment professionals around the world. For more information, visit www.sixthstreet.com or follow Sixth Street on LinkedIn.

Media Contacts

Blackstone
Rebecca Flower
Rebecca.Flower@blackstone.com
+44 (0)7918 360372

Sixth Street
Patrick Clifford
pclifford@sixthstreet.com
+1 (646) 906 4339

Categories: News

Tags:

Altor to build the leading green transition bank by acquiring a majority stake in Kommunalkredit

Altor Funds (“Altor”) have signed an agreement to acquire an 80% majority stake in Kommunalkredit Austria AG (“Kommunalkredit”) and enter a partnership with the existing owners and the management of the bank. Altor will support Kommunalkredit with incremental capital and expertise to continue its growth trajectory towards becoming the leading sustainable infrastructure bank in Europe. The existing long-term oriented shareholders, Interritus, Trinity Investments DAC and the Austrian Association of Municipalities will remain minority shareholders.

Stockholm/Vienna, 07/02/2023

Founded in 1958, Kommunalkredit is a provider of financing solutions to infrastructure and energy projects across Europe. Headquartered in Austria with a team of 350 FTEs, Kommunalkredit has transformed into a leading specialized infrastructure bank, having provided financing to around 200 projects with a core focus on the green transition and renewable energy over the last seven years. With EUR 4.4bn of assets, Kommunalkredit is expected to generate over EUR 120m in net interest income in 2022 with an impressive compound annual growth rate in excess of 50% over the past years.  Kommunalkredit’s success is founded on its strong management team and organisation, highly efficient operating model, stringent risk management and entrepreneurial culture, which have enabled Kommunalkredit to consistently outperform its strategic targets. A Return on Equity (RoE) of 20% and bank stand-alone cost/income ratio of around 45% corroborate its powerful track record.

Kommunalkredit and Altor are united in their vision of promoting the transition towards a green and sustainable future. Both institutions have accumulated extensive expertise within green transition financing through their investments and involvement in sustainable infrastructure and energy projects across Europe.

Bernd Fislage, CEO of Kommunalkredit, said:” This is a major step towards our jointly envisioned growth path as well as confirmation of our successful business strategy which will be further strengthened by this transaction and the targeted EUR 100m capital increase. It will enable us to maintain our momentum and further the development of Kommunalkredit and its role in tackling the challenges that Europe and the rest of the world is facing. Be it accelerating the energy transition, green transition or implementation and modernisation of social infrastructure. We will continue to address energy solutions, e-mobility, digitalisation and social infrastructure with a strong focus on sustainability and compliance with ESG criteria. We have a clear goal: Create value. For our customers, our shareholders, our stakeholders – our community.”

Paal Weberg, Co-Managing Partner at Altor, said: “We are proud and excited to partner with management and current owners of Kommunalkredit. Kommunalkredit has a unique position as financing partner to some of the most prominent green transition ventures and we believe that we jointly can build the European champion within sustainable infrastructure financing. Altor will support Kommunalkredit with capital and resources to strengthen its capabilities, building on our experiences from investing in other leading financial institutions and green transition champions. Altor with our long-term perspective shares a common view with the company and current owners on how to scale the business and pursue quality-led growth opportunities.”

 

 

Contact

Kommunalkredit Austria AG
Vera Mikula
Head of Communications
P + 43 1 31631 593
M v.mikula@kommunalkredit.at

Altor
Tor Krusell
Head of Communications
P + 46 705 43 87 47
M tor.krusell@altor.com

About Altor

Since inception, the family of Altor funds has raised EUR 8.3 billion in total commitments. The funds have invested in more than 85 companies. The investments have been made in medium sized predominantly Nordic companies with the aim to create value through growth initiatives and operational improvements. Among current and past investments are Carnegie, C WorldWide, Sbanken, OX2, H2 Green Steel, Vianode and Svea Solar.

For more information visit www.altor.com

About Kommunalkredit

Kommunalkredit is a specialist for infrastructure and energy financing. Together with its customers as partners, the bank creates values that continuously improve people’s lives. In doing so, it facilitates the construction and operation of infrastructure facilities by balancing the financing needs of project sponsors and developers with the growing number of investors looking for sustainable investment opportunities. Main investment segments are energy & environment | communications & digitalisation | transportation | social infrastructure | natural resources.

The bank offers a comprehensive product range covering everything from financial advisory services to structuring, arranging and providing borrowed capital and subordinated capital, as well as asset management via the Fidelio KA Infrastructure debt fund platform.

For more information visit www.kommunalkredit.at

Press contact

Tor Krusell

Head of Communications

tor.krusell@altor.com

+46 705 43 87 47

Categories: News

Tags:

UC Investments to Invest Additional $500 Million in BREIT Common Shares

Blackstone

Oakland, CA, and New York, January 25, 2023 – The Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the Regents of the University of California (“UC Investments”) and Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced an expansion of their long-term strategic venture. UC Investments will acquire an additional $500 million in Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (“BREIT”) Class I common shares with fees and terms consistent with existing BREIT shareholders. This follows the $4 billion investment by UC Investments into BREIT announced on January 3, 2023, bringing its total investment in BREIT to $4.5 billion.

This new investment, which is expected to close March 1, 2023 at BREIT’s public offering price on that date, will have the same structure, terms, and fees as UC Investments’ initial $4 billion investment, including an effective 6-year minimum hold period, and Blackstone will contribute an incremental $125 million of its current BREIT holdings into the strategic venture.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as BREIT’s legal counsel and Goodwin Procter LLP is acting as UC Investments’ legal counsel.

About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $951 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking” statements and “safe harbor statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and/or uncertainties, including those described in Blackstone’s and BREIT’s public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Blackstone and BREIT have based forward-looking statements on current expectations and assumptions and not on historical facts. Examples of these statements include, but are not limited to, any benefits expected to be achieved as a result of the transaction and statements regarding future performance. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements include the risks and other factors described in Blackstone and BREIT’s annual reports for the most recent fiscal year and any such updated factors included in their periodic filings with the SEC, as well as those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in BREIT’s prospectus, each of which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In providing forward-looking statements, neither Blackstone nor BREIT is undertaking any duty or obligation to update these statements publicly as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. If Blackstone or BREIT updates one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates with respect to those other forward-looking statements.

CONTACT

Jeffrey Kauth
Jeffrey.Kauth@Blackstone.com
(212) 583-5395

Categories: News

Tags:

Advent International to acquire up to a 10% per cent stake in YES BANK

MUMBAI, July 29, 2022 – Advent International (“Advent”), one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, today announced that it has agreed to acquire up to a 10% per cent equity stake in YES BANK (“Bank”), the sixth largest private sector bank in India, as part of an overall $1.1 billion capital fundraise by the Bank.

The capital raised will bolster the capital adequacy of the Bank, thereby providing growth capital for the core business of the Bank. Once approved, this would be one of the largest private equity investments in the Indian banking sector.

This equity stake in YES BANK will be Advent’s first investment in a banking entity in India and Advent will have one nominee on the Bank’s Board following the transaction.

Commenting on the investment, Ms Shweta Jalan, Managing Partner at Advent, said, “We believe India’s banking sector is at an inflection point where tech-enabled banks like YES BANK have an advantage. This investment also demonstrates our commitment to the country’s banking and financial services industry, which is the core of India’s growth story. We think the Bank’s leadership team, led by Prashant Kumar, has done great work in reviving its performance over the last two years. We look forward to working with the Bank and to drawing on our sector expertise in supporting YES BANK in its next phase of sustained growth.”

Mr. Prashant Kumar, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, YES BANK said, “We are extremely pleased to onboard such pedigreed investors like Carlyle and Advent International as our partners, in fulfilling the long-term strategy of the Bank. This is a testimony to the inherent strength of the bank’s franchise. We are excited about the incremental opportunities that this partnership creates for us and confident that both the investors will play a crucial role in the next growth phase of the Bank.”

Headquartered in Mumbai, YES BANK is a Full Service Commercial Bank providing a range of products, services and technology driven digital offerings, catering to corporate, MSME and retail customers. Founded in 2004, it has a strong Pan India footprint with over 1,140 branches across all 28 states and 9 Union Territories in India. It also operates investment banking, merchant banking and brokerage businesses through YES Securities. The banks shares are listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange.

Advent has been investing in India since 2007 and founded its Mumbai office in 2009. Currently, it has invested/committed almost $2.9 billion across 13 companies in sectors such as financial services, consumer products, healthcare, industrial and technology. Previous financial services investments include Aditya Birla Capital (a holding company for the financial services businesses of Aditya Birla Group) through which Advent has exposure to lending, asset management and insurance amongst others, and ASK Investment Managers Private Limited (a leading portfolio management service provider, real estate investment manager and wealth manager in India). New investments in the last twelve months include Eureka Forbes Ltd (health and safety solutions provider, with a presence in water purification, vacuum cleaning and other emerging categories), Encora (a global digital engineering services company specializing in software product development services for fast-growing enterprises and digitally-native companies) and Avra Labs (contract manufacturing and research services and specialty active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturer).

Globally, Advent has invested over US$12.5 billion across 82 companies in business and financial services. Previous investments in banks include Addiko Bank (a universal bank operating in South Eastern Europe), Nubank (the largest independent digital bank in the world and based in Brazil) and Grupo Financiero Mifel (a leading Mexican mid-sized bank serving the retail segment and small and medium-sized companies).

The transaction is subject to closing conditions and relevant statutory and regulatory approvals.

About Advent International

Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. The firm has invested in over 390 private equity investments across 41 countries, and as of March 31, 2022, had $75.9 billion in assets under management. With 15 offices in 12 countries, Advent has established a globally integrated team of over 265 private equity investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on investments in five core sectors, including business and financial services; health care; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology. For over 35 years, Advent has been dedicated to international investing and remains committed to partnering with management teams to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth for its portfolio companies.

For more information, visit:
Website:  www.adventinternational.com
LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/advent-international

 

About YES BANK

YES BANK is a ‘Full Service Commercial ‘Bank’ providing a complete range of products, services and technology driven digital offerings, catering to Retail, MSME as well as corporate clients. YES BANK operates its Investment banking, Merchant banking & Brokerage businesses through YES SECURITIES, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has a pan-India presence including an IBU at GIFT City, and a Representative Office in Abu Dhabi.

For more information, please visit the Bank’s website www.yesbank.in

For further information, please contact:

YES BANK | Neha Chandwani
neha.chandwani@yesbank.in

Categories: News

Tags:

Engagement Banking Leader Backbase Raises €120M from Motive Partners

Motive Partners

Having bootstrapped to €200 million in revenue, Backbase is doubling down on its successful category strategy in partnership with specialist investor Motive Partners

Amsterdam, June 9, 2022 – Backbase, creator of the category-leading Engagement Banking Platform, raised €120 million in growth equity funding from Motive Partners. Having grown organically to over €200 million in revenue, Backbase is now partnering with a Fintech specialist private equity firm, to further strengthen its claim on the Engagement Banking category.
This growth investment values Backbase at €2.5 billion. Motive Partners is a founder-friendly partner, fully supporting Backbase in remaining an independent force and driving the Engagement Banking strategy, by continuing to focus on customer-centric innovation that transforms the financial services industry’s siloed channels and legacy applications.
Most banks struggle with a patchwork of disconnected, point and channel solutions that were never designed to service the customer holistically, leaving behind a raft of broken journeys for their customers. This investment will allow Backbase to double down on its vision for Engagement Banking and accelerate its mission of re-architecting banking around the customer.

Engagement Banking is a paradigm shift. Rather than stitching these legacy applications together and trying to rework banking around outdated technology, banks and credit unions can instantly leverage the power of a cloud-based engagement banking platform to create frictionless customer journeys across all the stages of the customer lifecycle. From onboarding, to servicing, to lending, to expanding share of wallet, this investment supports the growth through product expansion and further growing Backbase’s sales and marketing operations.
“Today is a major milestone for more than 2,000 Backbasers and 150 customers around the world, to celebrate the incredible progress we made. With this partnership, we’re even better equipped to drive our Engagement Banking vision to the next level. I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and the positive impact we can make,” Jouk Pleiter, Founder and CEO of Backbase said. “To all our customers, I personally want to restate our long-term commitment to being your independent, long-term partner in innovation. For us, it is still day one.”

Motive Partners were advised by Goldman Sachs as corporate finance advisor, Proskauer Rose LLP and Loyens & Loeff as legal counsel, EY as accounting and tax, and Motive Create for technical due diligence. Backbase was advised by De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek as legal counsel.

About Backbase
Backbase is a financial technology company on a mission to re-architect banking around the customer. Our whitelabel Engagement Banking platform empowers banks and credit unions to rapidly digitize their customer-facing operations and create seamless journeys that meet and exceed the expectations of today’s digital-savvy customers. With Backbase, banks and credit unions can put their customers back in the heart of their business.
Industry analysts Forrester, Gartner, Celent, Omdia and IDC continuously recognize Backbase’s category leadership position. Over 150 financials around the world have embraced the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform – including Advanzia, Banco Caja Social, Banco de la Nacion Peru, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Berenberg, BNP Paribas, Citizens Bank, ENT, Greater Bank, HDFC, Judo Bank, KeyBank, National Bank of Bahrain, Navy Federal Credit Union, Natwest, Pictet & Cie, Raiffeisen, SchoolFirst Federal Credit Union, Standard Bank, Société Générale, TPBank, Washington State Employee Credit Union and Wildfire Credit Union.
Backbase was founded in 2003 in Amsterdam (global HQ), with regional offices in Atlanta (Americas HQ), Boise, Mexico City, Toronto, London, Cardiff, Dubai, Kraków, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

About Motive Partners
Motive Partners is a specialist private equity firm with offices in New York City and London, focusing on growth equity and buyout investments in software and information services companies based in North America and Europe and serving five primary subsectors: Banking & Payments, Capital Markets, Data & Analytics, Investment Management and Insurance. Motive Partners brings
“For more than a decade, Backbase has shown leadership and innovation in enhancing digital relationships between financial institutions and its customers,” explained Rob Heyvaert, Founder and Managing Partner of Motive Partners. “We’re excited to support Jouk and the Backbase team with this initial fundraise as they continue to expand, grow and build the leading, customer-centric, Engagement Banking Platform globally.”
Neil Cochrane, Partner at Motive Partners commented, “Backbase continues to lead an innovative category underpinning the banking sector, and we believe that together we have a unique growth opportunity to build upon Backbase’s strong foundations. As Backbase continues its growth journey, we’re excited to leverage our team’s depth of expertise alongside Jouk and the team.”
“Backbase’s proven track record of entrepreneurship and organic growth will continue. Our formula is simple: focus on the needs of our customers and empower highly skilled teams to deliver. We’re changing a big industry, which is hard work. Having critical mass and market momentum allows us to stay laser-focused,” Pleiter added. “Together we’re making it happen.”

Categories: News

Tags:

Trustly, backed by Nordic Capital, acquires Ecospend, further strengthening position in the UK

Nordic Capital

Trustly, the leading global payments platform for digital Account-to-Account transactions (“A2A”) today announces the acquisition of the UK-based Open Banking Payments platform Ecospend. Ecospend’s strong UK A2A product and full bank connectivity will complement and enable Trustly to deliver a market-leading product in the UK, and further accelerate its UK roll-out  – one of Europe’s most rapidly growing A2A regions and a core growth market for Trustly.

Four years after PSD2 made Open Banking a regulatory requirement in the UK, the market presents a dynamic ecosystem, with rapidly accelerating consumer adoption, and strong transaction volume growth. As previously announced, the UK is one of Trustly’s core growth markets. Having set an ambitious target to be the game-changing market leader in the UK, the acquisition of Ecospend now accelerates Trustly’s journey towards that target.

Trustly, backed by Nordic Capital, acquires Ecospend, further strengthening position in the UK Image

Ecospend, founded in 2017, is a FCA UK regulated A2A payments provider powering the next generation of open banking based payments and financial data services. Ecospend serves clients in a range of industries, including Public Sector where the company has a key contract with the tax authority of the UK government, HMRC, which went live in March 2021. In the past year, Ecospend has processed over £5bn in A2A payments to over 2 million consumers. Ecospend’s strong UK Payment Initiation and Account Information Services (PIS & AIS), as well as connectivity with 80+ UK banks makes it a strong fit with Trustly’s collection capabilities and wider European footprint.

Johan Tjärnberg, Group CEO of Trustly, comments: “I am delighted to welcome Ecospend to Trustly. This is a perfect strategic fit and I am convinced that it will enable us to deliver a market-leading product in the UK, allowing us to capture opportunities and accelerate our current UK expansion.”

Metin Erkman, Founder of Ecospend: “Together with Trustly we will be able to further accelerate our expansion in the UK and continue to raise the bar for service excellence to our customers. We will continue to leverage our market-leading technology and bank connectivity in the UK and, together with Trustly, broaden our capabilities to stretch across Europe and further markets. We are really excited to join the Trustly family.”

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. The parties, Trustly AB and Ecospend Technologies Ltd, have agreed to not disclose any financial details.

For more information, please contact:

Charlotte Eriksson
Head of Strategic Transformation and Head of Corporate Communications at Trustly
+46 (0)76 115 32 10, charlotte.eriksson@trustly.com

About Trustly

Founded in 2008, Trustly is a global leader in Open Banking Payments. Our digital account-to-account platform redefines the speed, simplicity and security of payments, linking some of the world’s most prominent merchants with consumers directly from their online banking accounts. Trustly can handle the entire payment journey, setting us apart from the competition and enabling us to offer an attractive alternative to the traditional card networks at a lower cost. Today we serve 8,100 merchants, connecting them with 525 million consumers and 6,300 banks in over 30 countries; and in 2021 we processed over $28 billion in transaction volume in our global network. We are a licensed Payment Institution under the second payment services directive (PSD2) and operate under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority in Europe. In the US, we are state regulated as required to serve our target markets. Read more at www.trustly.com.

About Ecospend

Founded in 2017, Ecospend is an Open Finance Technology platform. In 2021 Ecospend won one of the largest ever Open Banking contracts, with HMRC. In the past year Ecospend has processed over £5bn in transaction volume from its client portfolio which, in addition to the UK Government, includes several blue chip private sector clients such as ITV, Toolstation, Anglian Water and London Mutual Credit Union. Ecospend operates under the supervision of the UK FCA. Read more at www.ecospend.com

Categories: News

Tags:

ClearBank raises £175 million led by Apax Digital to accelerate global expansion

Apax
21ST MARCH 2022
  • ClearBank is the #1 ranked fastest-growing UK tech company according to Deloitte
  • Largest UK next generation clearing and embedded banking platform, with more than 200 financial institutions and fintech customers, 13 million accounts, and £3bn in balances
  • The only next generation player with direct access to all bank payment schemes, and the only embedded banking provider delivering bank accounts at scale, in the UK
  • Investment will accelerate ClearBank’s international growth and expansion into new partnerships, products, and services

 

ClearBank, the largest next generation clearing and embedded banking platform in the UK, today announced a £175 million equity investment. The round was led by funds advised by Apax Digital, the growth equity arm of Apax, a leading global private equity advisory firm. Existing investors, CFFI UK Ventures (Barbados) Ltd and PPF Financial Holdings BV, also participated.

The new investment will accelerate ClearBank’s global expansion of its clearing and embedded banking offering, initially in Europe before moving into North America and Asia Pacific.

The first new clearing bank in the UK in over 250 years at launch in 2017, ClearBank is the only next generation payments provider with direct access to all banking payment schemes in the UK (e.g. Faster Payments, BACS, CHAPS). As a regulated bank, ClearBank manages transactions end-to-end from order transmission to settlement, liquidity management and clearing.

As a leading supplier of embedded banking services in the UK, ClearBank provides over 13 million accounts to the customers of leading financial brands. ClearBank is the only platform providing bank accounts, with FSCS deposit protection, at scale, bringing embedded banking services to the mass market. This product offering is complimented by a range of related value-added services, including FX and multi-currency accounts

Unlike other providers with legacy systems, ClearBank’s end-to-end offering of regulated financial services is accessed via a single API to a powerful cloud-native software platform, which delivers greater speed, efficiency, and ease-of-use. It also enables innovation, including settling payments between customers on the ClearBank platform instantaneously, removing friction and lowering cost.

As a truly cloud native bank, the platform offers a new paradigm in resilience, with industry-leading uptime with no downtime for maintenance, unlimited scalability and elasticity, and triple real-time redundancy. Operationally, ClearBank has built a financially sustainable and highly scalable, low risk, business model, with all its £3bn of deposits held securely at the Bank of England, providing complete peace of mind.

ClearBank has seen tremendous growth and has been recognised as the #1 fastest growing tech company in Deloitte’s 2021 UK Technology Fast 50 awards together with the 2021 Card & Payments Award for Best Service.

This impressive combination has led to a customer base of over 200 financial institutions and fintechs, including Tide, Coinbase, Chip and Oaknorth Bank. ClearBank is also the only financial services provider to be awarded two grants, totalling £85 million, from the Banking and Competition Remedies (BCR) fund in delivering competition and innovation to UK SMEs.

ClearBank also plans to expand its range of products and services to include direct API-based access to interbank payment schemes such as SEPA, enhanced multi-currency accounts, and additional FX services. These capabilities will allow ClearBank to support existing customers in scaling internationally and welcome new customers in multiple markets.

Charles McManus, CEO at ClearBank, said: “ClearBank is the first proven and fully regulated cloud-native clearing bank in the UK for over 250 years. Over the last five years we have demonstrated the success of our business model and through our work with leading financial service providers, helped to both unlock their potential and bring about positive and meaningful change for UK businesses and consumers.”

“Our revenue growth is the proof of the momentum we have been gathering since 2017. It is this proof point and our transformative effect on access to banking services, traditionally a space characterised by high barriers to entry, which has given us the credibility to partner with and deliver seamless and secure embedded banking for award winning financial institutionspowerful fintech disrupters and government bodies alike.”

“The next challenge is delivering this innovation globally. To achieve this, we needed a strategic partner with the right cultural fit, sector expertise and geographic experience, something we found in Apax Digital.”

Mark Beith, Partner at Apax Digital, said: “All companies are becoming fintech companies, and ClearBank is providing the clearing and embedded banking infrastructure for them – starting with fintechs themselves. We’ve seen the power of its platform first-hand, and we are excited to partner with Charles and the existing shareholders to take ClearBank global.”

Niccolo Ferragamo, Principal at Apax Digital, added: “Combining a banking license with a modern, agile and scalable embedded banking infrastructure is hard. Doing it at scale, and while delivering exceptional customer satisfaction, is truly special. ClearBank has been quietly building the clear next generation leader in the UK on all key metrics, and we are thrilled to continue innovating the category together.”

ClearBank was advised by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP. The investment remains subject to PRA and FCA approval.

 

COMPANY

Clearbank Logo Blue (3)

GLOBAL MEDIA CONTACT

Katarina Sallerfors

t: +44 20 7872 6300

Luke Charalambous

t: +44 20 7872 6300

Categories: News

Tags:

CVC Asia V agrees acquisition of Affin Hwang AM

CVC Capital Partners

CVC signals strong confidence in Malaysia through landmark investment in leading asset management company

Affin Banking Group (“Affin Group”) has agreed to transfer its controlling stake in Affin Hwang Asset Management Berhad (“Affin Hwang AM”) to CVC Capital Partners Asia Fund V. This transaction is expected to be completed in Q3 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Since its inception in 2001, Affin Hwang AM has grown to become one of Malaysia’s leading asset management firms with a diverse client base of public and private companies, institutions, pension funds, and individual investors. As at 31 December 2021, Affin Hwang AM as well as its wholly-owned Islamic fund management arm AIIMAN Asset Management, have a combined RM81 billion in assets under administration.

Datuk Wan Razly Abdullah, President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Affin Bank, said, “We are pleased to see the entry of CVC, a global private equity player, into a home-grown asset management house which is testament to the confidence in the growth prospects of the financial services sector and the Malaysian economy as a whole. With the continuation of the management of Affin Hwang AM helmed by Dato’ Teng Chee Wai and the institutional shareholding presence of Nikko Asset Management (“Nikko AM”), we believe that the business of Affin Hwang AM will continue to perform well moving forward and are confident that CVC, Affin Hwang AM management and together with Nikko AM are committed to support Affin Hwang AM’s growth, its superior long-term commitment to deliver value to clients and further develop its talented employees.”

Dato’ Teng Chee Wai, Managing Director of Affin Hwang AM, commented, “We are excited to work with CVC, together with our longstanding partner, Nikko AM, to chart the course for Affin Hwang AM’s next phase of growth and to advance the development of the Malaysian capital markets. The entry of CVC, a leading global private equity and investment advisory firm comes at the right time as we continue to broaden our suite of product offerings to cater to the growing needs of our clients and partners. We remain deeply committed to helping our clients build their wealth, and we look forward to partnering with CVC and Nikko AM to drive our commitment to our valued clients.”

Alvin Lim, Senior Managing Director at CVC, added, “This marks our sixth investment in Malaysia since 2007, bringing our total capital invested to over US$1 billion. We remain confident in the strong economic fundamentals of the country, and believe this investment is an important opportunity for us to contribute to the continued development of Malaysia’s asset management industry and capital markets, as well as to grow Malaysia into the region’s leading asset management hub. We are particularly excited to partner with Affin Hwang AM’s talented management team, who has shown a track record of outperformance, and Nikko AM, who will remain as a strategic shareholder. We look forward to supporting the management team in expanding the investment and product capabilities and entering other ASEAN markets, by leveraging on our experiences and network across the region.”

Eleanor Seet, President of Nikko Asset Management Asia Limited and Head of Asia-ex Japan of Nikko AM, opined, “Our commitment to the region and our clients in Malaysia remains steadfast. We are delighted to continue our long-term partnership with the AHAM management team and welcome CVC. We believe the synergy of the new partnership will continue to strengthen the growth trajectory of Affin Hwang AM and enhance our ability to deliver progressive solutions to valued clients.”

Categories: News

Tags:

Anchorage Digital Raises $350 Million in Series D Funding Round, Led by KKR

KKR

New round values premier digital asset platform at over $3 billion

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Anchorage Digital (“Anchorage” or the “Company”), the premier digital asset platform for institutions, today announced it has closed a $350 million Series D funding round led by global investment firm KKR. Participants include Goldman Sachs, Alameda Research, Andreessen Horowitz, Apollo credit funds, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Blockchain Capital, Delta Blockchain Fund, Elad Gil, GIC, GoldenTree Asset Management, Innovius Capital, Kraken, Lux Capital, PayPal Ventures, Senator Investment Group, Standard Investments, Thoma Bravo, and Wellington Management. This funding round values Anchorage at over $3 billion.

“As more and more institutions look to add crypto services into their offerings, we find ourselves at an inflection point,” said Diogo Mónica, President and Co-Founder of Anchorage Digital, “This funding positions Anchorage Digital to meet the unprecedented institutional demand for this rapidly evolving market. We’re grateful that KKR and this wider group of investors shares our vision to expand regulated institutional access to digital assets.”

The first crypto-native company to receive a banking charter from the Office of the Comptroller (OCC) in January 2021, Anchorage is making it safe and accessible for institutions to participate in the rapidly evolving digital asset space. Anchorage began as a custodian and has built a robust suite of additional services such as secure trading, financing, staking, and governance.

Anchorage Digital plans to use this latest funding to enhance its infrastructure solutions, specifically for global financial firms and fintech innovators. It will also invest to accelerate and simplify clients’ engagement with the latest in crypto innovation and increase the size of its team to continue to expand product offerings and grow its client base.

KKR is investing in Anchorage through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II, a fund dedicated to growth equity investment opportunities in the technology space. This will be the firm’s first direct equity investment in a digital asset company.

“As a pioneer in enabling institutional investors to access digital assets, Anchorage has built a best in class, institutional grade digital asset platform that combines the best practices of both modern security and usability,” said Ben Pederson, Senior Leader on KKR’s Technology Growth Equity team. “We are thrilled to lead this Series D round and work with Diogo, Nathan and their talented team as they continue to support the institutional adoption of digital assets through their differentiated, regulated and integrated suite of solutions.”

“We are certain Anchorage will be a crucial part of the digital asset infrastructure and we are excited to be an investor,” said Oli Harris, Head of North America Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs.

Anchorage’s Series D funding follows a dynamic year of growth. Significant milestones include:

  • Receiving a federal banking charter from the OCC
  • Announcing an $80 million Series C round that was led by GIC and included Andreessen Horowitz, Blockchain Capital, Lux Capital, and Indico
  • Facilitating Visa’s purchase of one of the most popular series of NFTs, Cryptopunk #7610
  • Growing headcount by 175% to date in 2021
  • Business growth in excess of 800% for each of the past two years.

About Anchorage Digital

Anchorage Digital is the most advanced digital asset platform for investors. From custody and trading to staking, governance, and financing, Anchorage offers a full range of crypto-native financial solutions that are compliant, built to adapt to emerging blockchain use cases, and made to evolve alongside the needs of digital asset investors. Today, Anchorage serves many of the largest institutional investors and enterprise brands in the digital asset space.

Anchorage Digital Bank makes it simple and secure for institutions to gain exposure to digital assets as the first federally chartered digital asset bank. With secure custody at its core, Anchorage is the premier partner for institutions and corporations. Anchorage offers financial solutions for today and tomorrow. To learn more, please visit anchorage.com and on Twitter @Anchorage.

About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of The Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

Media Contacts:

Anchorage:
Lexi Wangler
anchorage@dittopr.co

KKR:

Julia Kosygina or Miles Radcliffe-Trenner
(212) 750-8300
media@kkr.com

Disclaimer

This press release is intended for informational purposes only. It is not to be construed as and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities in Anchor Labs, Inc., or any of its subsidiaries, and should not be relied upon to make any investment decisions. Furthermore, nothing within this announcement is intended to provide tax, legal, or investment advice and its contents should not be construed as a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security or digital asset or to engage in any transaction therein.

SOURCE Anchorage Digital

Categories: News

Tags: