EQT Acquires Saxo Payments Banking Circle

STOCKHOLM, July 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

• EQT VIII and EQT Ventures, in partnership with Saxo Payments Banking Circle's founders and other co-investors, to acquire Saxo Payments Banking Circle
• Saxo Payments Banking Circle's unique banking platform enables cross-border payments with reduced complexity, time and cost
• EQT to support Saxo Payments Banking Circle's continued growth by leveraging the entire EQT platform, including around 25 years of experience in future-proofing companies as well as accelerating hyper-growth businesses, deep TMT expertise, and a global industrial network

The EQT VIII fund ("EQT VIII") and EQT Ventures fund ("EQT Ventures") (jointly "EQT") have together with company founders and other co-investors entered into an agreement to acquire Saxo Payments Banking Circle ("Banking Circle" or "the company") from Saxo Bank A/S and other minority owners. EQT VIII will have the majority ownership.

Founded in 2013, Banking Circle is a next-generation provider of mission-critical infrastructure for online cross-border payments. Today, Banking Circle is processing around EUR 60 billion run-rate annual payment volumes for several high-profile customers using direct clearing access through partnerships with blue-chip partner banks. The global cross-border payments market is driven by an increasing need for faster and less costly payments, compliance, and transparency, resulting in one of the fastest growing segments within the payments ecosystem.

EQT will support the continued acceleration of Banking Circle's growth strategy, in current and new geographies, as well as the expansion of the product portfolio. Through EQT, Banking Circle will get access to both operational and financial resources to drive innovation and investments in technology development and talent acquisition. The company will also be able to leverage the entire EQT platform, including deep TMT sector expertise, local presence and EQT's global network of Industrial Advisors. Banking Circle's current management team, including founders and co-CEOs Anders la Cour and Laust Bertelsen, will continue to lead the organization, building on a strong track record of growth.

"We are proud of Saxo Payments Banking Circle's development and growth. As investor and incubator, we have supported the company with our core competencies in foreign exchange as well as developing and managing global fintech solutions. It is not an easy task to build fintech solutions that create value and are long-term sustainable, but the company has done what few succeed in. We see EQT as the ideal partner for the next part of the journey and we are confident that Saxo Payments Banking Circle will thrive and continue its impressive growth trajectory. We look forward to continuing a close collaboration with the company and EQT, leveraging our technology and market access", says Kim Fournais, founder and CEO of Saxo Bank.

Anders la Cour and Laust Bertelsen, co-CEOs at Banking Circle comment: "We would like to thank Saxo Bank for a great partnership and look forward to a close collaboration in the years to come. We are excited to partner with EQT. With their support, we will be ideally positioned to continue innovating to serve our customers even better and continue our rapid growth."

"We have followed Banking Circle for several years and are impressed by the company's management team and unique innovation capabilities. Saxo Bank and Banking Circle's management team have built an innovative, secure, and highly automated platform to make competitive, faster, and more transparent payments across borders. EQT is looking forward to supporting Banking Circle and the management team on their continued growth journey and in building a leading global payments infrastructure player. The cooperation between EQT VIII and EQT Ventures enables Banking Circle to benefit from the full EQT platform", says Mads Ditlevsen, Responsible Deal Partner and Partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to the majority owner EQT VIII.

"We're excited to partner with the entrepreneurs behind Banking Circle and support them in building the next generation infrastructure for cross-border payments," says Hjalmar Winbladh, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Ventures. "Cross-border payments is a large and rapidly growing market dominated by traditional players. Banking Circle has built a disruptive solution with a strong value proposition. The customer feedback is excellent and the company's traction is evident looking at the triple digit growth of the business."

The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2018, subject to approval from financial regulators.

Contacts:
Mads Ditlevsen
Partner at EQT Partners
Investment Advisor to EQT VIII
+45 2325 0158

Hjalmar Winbladh
Partner at EQT Partners
Investment Advisor to EQT Ventures
+46-708-323286

EQT Press office
+46-8-506-55-334

Banking Circle Press office (Harrison Sadler)
+44-208-977-9132
bankingcircle@harrisonsadler.com

About Banking Circle

Banking Circle is a rapidly growing payments infrastructure platform that enables faster, competitive and more transparent payments clearing, reducing complexity relative to the traditional correspondent banking network. Today, Banking Circle has around 85 employees and is headquartered in Denmark, with offices in Denmark, Luxembourg and the UK. The company is processing around EUR 60 billion run-rate annual payment volumes for several high-profile customers using direct clearing access and partnerships with blue-chip partner banks.

More info: www.bankingcircle.com

About EQT

EQT is a leading investment firm with approximately EUR 50 billion in raised capital across 27 funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 19 billion and approximately 110,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About Saxo Bank

Saxo Bank Group (Saxo) is a leading Fintech specialist focused on multi-asset trading and investment and delivering 'Banking-as-a-Service' to wholesale clients. For 25 years, Saxo's mission has been to democratize investment and trading, enabling clients by facilitating their seamless access to global capital markets through technology and expertise.

As a fully licensed and regulated bank, Saxo enables its direct clients to trade multiple asset classes across global financial markets from one single margin account and across multiple devices. Additionally, Saxo provides wholesale institutional clients such as banks and brokers with multi-asset execution, prime brokerage services and trading technology, supporting the full value chain delivering Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS).

Saxo's award winning trading platforms are available in more than 20 languages and form the technology backbone of more than 100 financial institutions worldwide. Founded in 1992 and launching its first online trading platform in 1998, Saxo Bank was a Fintech even before the term was created. Headquartered in Copenhagen Saxo Bank today employs more than 1500 people in financial centers around the world including London, Paris, Zurich, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

More info: www.home.saxo

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SOURCE EQT AB