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.”

Paysafe Group Holdings Limited, a leading specialized payments platform, and Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE: BFT), (BFT WS) (“Foley Trasimene”), a special purpose acquisition company, today announced that they have completed their previously announced merger. The merger was approved at a special meeting of stockholders of Foley Trasimene on March 25, 2021, and closed today, March 30, 2021.  The combined company now operates as Paysafe Limited (“Paysafe”) and Paysafe’s common shares and warrants will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbols “PSFE” and “PSFE.WS” respectively, starting tomorrow, March 31, 2021.

Paysafe is a leading specialized payments platform, with a two-sided consumer and merchant network, whose core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers around the world to connect and transact seamlessly through payment processing; digital wallets including the Skrill and Neteller brands; and online cash solutions including paysafecard and Paysafecash. William P. Foley, II, Founder and Chairman of Foley Trasimene will serve as Chairman of Paysafe’s newly formed Board of Directors. Paysafe’s management team headed up by Philip McHugh, CEO, will continue to lead the combined company. ¹

William P. Foley, II, Founder and Chairman of Foley Trasimene and Chairman of Paysafe, stated, “We are thrilled to complete this business combination with Paysafe and I am personally excited to continue to work with Philip, Blackstone, CVC and the entire board as we continue to execute against our plan for accelerated and profitable growth. Paysafe has the right assets, team and strategy in place to capitalize on a tremendous opportunity for long-term value creation in the payments industry, especially in iGaming which is really beginning to open up across the United States.”

Philip McHugh, CEO of Paysafe, stated, “The closing of this transaction and our listing on the New York Stock Exchange is a huge milestone for Paysafe and getting to this point today is testament to the hard work and dedication of our team around the world.  I would also like to thank Bill and the Foley Trasimene team for their backing and belief in our opportunity, and of course Blackstone and CVC for their continued investment and support.  We’re excited to be embarking on the next stage of our growth journey as a public company.”

Eli Nagler, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “Today is a significant milestone for Paysafe and a testament to the excellent work of their world-class management team over several years. We believe Paysafe has a long runway for further growth and look forward to remaining part of the team and seeing their continued success as a public company.”

Peter Rutland, a Managing Partner at CVC, said, “We are delighted for Paysafe as they begin their next chapter as a public company. By combining Paysafe’s leading solutions in high-growth, specialized markets with Paysafe’s seasoned management team, now supplemented with Bill Foley’s track record of enhancing organic and inorganic growth, this company is incredibly well-positioned to continue a strong growth trajectory and create value for shareholders and all other stakeholders.”

Advisors

Credit Suisse acted as lead financial advisor and capital markets advisor to Paysafe. Morgan Stanley also acted as financial advisor to Paysafe. BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Barclays, Wolfe Capital Markets and Advisory, BMO Capital Markets and Evercore also acted as capital markets advisors. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel to Paysafe. Proton Partners acted as strategic advisor to Paysafe.

RBC Capital Markets LLC., BofA Securities and J.P. Morgan acted as financial advisors to Foley Trasimene.  Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acted as legal counsel to Foley Trasimene.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), a pan-European growth investor, and Corsair, a global specialist investment firm focused on financial & business services and infrastructure, today announced that portfolio company Currencies Direct (the “Company”), a global leader in digital foreign exchange (“FX”) and international payment services to high value private clients and SMEs, completed a £165 million dividend recapitalisation. The recapitalisation was provided by incumbent lenders CVC Credit and Alcentra, who backed Palamon and Corsair’s acquisition of Currencies Direct in 2015. The refinancing includes a 5.5x senior portability feature.

Currencies Direct is one of the largest platforms globally in an increasingly consolidating international payments market. The Company focuses on high-value transactions and the mass affluent segment of the FX market, as well as SMEs. Currencies Direct combines a full-stack, fully digital offering (c. 80% of total trades) with a premium, award-winning customer service model that allows it to cater to the universal needs of its target customer segments.

Since Palamon and Corsair’s acquisition in 2015, Currencies Direct has increased revenue from £40 million (CY2015) to £85 million (CY2020), and nearly tripled EBITDA from £13 million to £33 million over the same period, with net leverage reducing from more than 5.5x at acquisition to 1.1x at the time of the dividend recapitalisation, enabling a substantial return of capital for shareholders.  The Company has grown organically by tripling the size of its customer base, expanding its B2B2C affiliate network and broadening its geographic reach. Currencies Direct also recently signed an exclusive white label agreement to provide FX services to Hargreaves Lansdown, one of the largest wealth managers in the UK with approximately 1.5 million active clients.

Currencies Direct’s strong cash generation has also allowed the Company to self-fund three add-on acquisitions and complete a significant £20 million investment in a full upgrade of its digital assets, including a proprietary and highly scalable transactional platform that opens numerous avenues for additional growth. The platform uses API and Machine Learning capabilities and enables full transactional and bankside straight-through processing. Its multi-tenant architecture allows the Company to seamlessly pursue its global, multi-brand strategy and M&A programme – supporting its continued growth into European, US, and Asian markets. Currencies Direct has also broadened its product range with the launch of new multi-currency wallets that serve customers making smaller transactions, improving the Company’s penetration of the lower mass-affluent market segment.

Ali Rahmatollahi, Partner of Palamon, said, “Completing a sponsor dividend recapitalisation during the global pandemic is a true testament to the business’s resilient model, attractive financial profile, and ability to consistently deliver growth and profitability despite Brexit and difficult market conditions. Our lending partners CVC and Alcentra have been supporting us since the initial acquisition and we are delighted to have their continued backing.”

Derrick Estes and Raja Hadji-Touma, Partners at Corsair, said, “Currencies Direct has undergone a period of tremendous growth and transformation over these last few years while providing unmatched FX and payment processing services to their rapidly expanding customer base. We are pleased that CVC and Alcentra share our confidence in the long-term growth opportunities for the Company and are excited for this next chapter.”

Keith Hatton, Chief Executive of Currencies Direct, said: “With Palamon and Corsair’s financial and strategic support, we have been able to implement a highly successful growth strategy that has nearly tripled the size of the business in five years. Currencies Direct is at an exciting turning point, and our continued investment in technology over the past three years has set the stage for a new phase of transformative growth. Our recent wealth management contract wins and growing global footprint – including through the recent opening of our new office in Singapore – underline our success in pursuing new expansion initiatives.”

Kris Winter, Executive Director at Alcentra said, “We have been supporting Currencies Direct since the initial acquisition and have continued to be impressed by the resiliency and the performance of the business, driven by its differentiated and defensible value proposition.  With banks still holding approximately 80% share of the FX market and new international territories being targeted, there is significant room for Currencies Direct to continue its strong growth trajectory.”

Chris Fowler, Managing Director at CVC Credit said, “Currencies Direct has demonstrated impressive resilience amid global disruption and even managed to increase revenues and EBITDA through 2020. We remain confident in the Company’s long-term growth prospects and are pleased to continue to support the business.”