June 2024: Top five M&A deals of the month
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are common occurrences in the world of fintech, often reshaping businesses and redefining the market landscape. Here, we take a look at five of the top M&A deals in June, including deal highlights from Société Générale, NatWest, Funding Circle, AlphaSense, Ageras and more.
Robinhood to acquire Bitstamp in $200m deal
Robinhood set to buy Bitstamp for $200 million
Digital trading platform Robinhood came to an agreement this month to acquire global cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for approximately $200 million.
The cash deal will see the 50-plus licenses and registrations held by Bitstamp transferred to Robinhood, which is now set to form its first institutional business division.
“With Bitstamp’s other institutional offerings like its white-label solution Bitstamp-as-a-service, institutional lending, and staking, Robinhood will enter the space with active and established relationships, infrastructure and industry-leading products,” the trading platform said in a statement this month.
The acquisition remains subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first half of 2025.
AlphaSense acquires rival Tegus for $930m, valuation tops $4bn
Market intelligence platform AlphaSense is set to acquire Tegus, a provider of corporate intelligence solutions based in Chicago, US, in a deal totalling $930 million.
The acquisition, expected to close in Q3 2024, includes Tegus’ research platform, financial data and workflow tools.
The companies say that their combined user base will now further benefit from the ability to easily extract proprietary insights through the integration of Tegus’ extensive database with AlphaSense’s AI and search capabilities.
In addition to announcing the purchase, AlphaSense also revealed this month that it has raised $650 million in additional funding, which brings the company’s valuation to $4 billion.
Société Générale sells neobank Shine to Danish fintech Ageras
Société Générale sells neobank Shine to Ageras
French banking group Société Générale is to sell Shine, a freelancer and small business-focused neobank, to Danish fintech Ageras.
The proposed sale comes after Les Echos reported in January this year that the group was seeking a buyer for Shine, in which it has held a majority stake since 2020.
Investcorp-backed Ageras’ purchase of the neobank, for an undisclosed sum, follows through on its promise made this month to execute “1-2 major acquisitions before a potential IPO in 2026“.
The deal will see all of Shine’s banking products, including business accounts, debit cards and a co-pilot solution, merge with Ageras’ accounting, banking and business software solutions.
Sainsbury’s sells core banking business to NatWest
British supermarket group Sainsbury’s is selling the personal loan, credit card and retail deposit portfolios of its core banking business to NatWest Group.
The deal will see £2.5 billion of gross customer assets transferred to the high-street lender, including £1.4 billion in unsecured personal loans and £1.1 billion in credit card balances, alongside around £2.6 billion in customer deposits.
As part of the transaction, which is expected to close during the first half of 2025, NatWest will take on around one million new customer accounts.
Sainsbury’s has been looking for a buyer for the business since January when it first announced its intention to wind down certain areas of its banking endeavours.
iBusiness Funding snaps up Funding Circle’s US business for £33m
Funding Circle’s US business sold to iBusiness Funding
Small business lending platform Funding Circle entered into an agreement this month to sell its US business to iBusiness Funding, a software and lending service provider based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for £33 million.
The deal includes the division’s entire loan portfolio, which Funding Circle says “includes a £10m gain” before transaction costs.
Funding Circle adds it will review the proceeds of the sale “in line with our capital allocation framework” and expects to close the transaction “by the end of June”.
The planned sale of the division was first announced by CEO Lisa Jacobs earlier this year in the company’s full year financial results for 2023. The results, published 7 March, showed that the US business contributed to losses of £23 million for Funding Circle in 2023.
