November 2024: Top five fintech 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 fintech M&A deals in November, including highlights from Robinhood, Amundi and more.
UniCredit completes acquisition of 90.1% stake in Alpha Bank Romania
UniCredit expands presence in Romania
Italian banking group UniCredit has completed the acquisition of a majority 90.1% stake in Alpha Bank Romania from Alpha Services and Holdings, the parent company of Athens-headquartered Alpha Bank.
Alpha Services and Holdings received €255 million in cash through the deal, plus 9.9% of the share capital of UniCredit’s Romanian subsidiary, UniCredit Bank Romania.
UniCredit says it will now commence a “gradual integration” of Alpha Bank Romania into UniCredit Group, merging Alpha Bank Romania into UniCredit Bank Romania.
This move, the bank states, is “estimated to take place in the second part of 2025”.
Solaris sells Engage business to UK fintech Suits Me
Solaris, a Germany-based embedded finance provider, has sold its Engage business to UK-based fintech Suits Me for an undisclosed sum.
Suits Me, founded in 2015, is an alternative banking provider that offers a number of personal account options. The company says it provides “accounts and services tailored to the needs of underserved communities” as it looks to “foster a more inclusive financial landscape”.
The acquisition includes all Engage Card accounts, which are to be transferred to Suits Me. Matthew Sanders, CEO of Suits Me, confirmed to FinTech Futures that “this migration has already started and will be finished mid-January 2025”.
SIX Group agrees £194m deal to acquire UK’s Aquis Exchange
SIX Group to acquire Aquis Exchange
SIX Group, a Swiss stock exchange operator, has agreed a deal to acquire all issued and to-be-issued shares of UK-based Aquis Exchange.
Each Aquis shareholder is to receive 727 pence in cash per share in a deal SIX says “implies an enterprise value of approximately £194 million”.
The company adds that the acquisition presents an opportunity to expand its offerings across data solutions, traditional primary exchange services and MTFs, while also enhancing the firm’s “pan-European liquidity footprint”.
Additionally, SIX says the deal will enable the creation of an “increasingly attractive offering” for retail brokers by extending its “universe of tradable securities across Europe”.
French asset manager Amundi buys wealthtech Aixigo for €149m
Amundi, one of the largest asset managers in Europe with €2 trillion in AUM, has acquired Aixigo, a digital financial consulting software provider based in Aachen, Germany, for €149 million.
The transaction will see Aixigo’s API-based wealth management platform, Aixigo:BLOXX, and 150 team members join the Paris-headquartered asset manager’s Amundi Technology business.
With an above 12% return on investment forecast after four years, Guillaume Lesage, COO of Amundi, says the acquisition will “accelerate the deployment of Amundi Technology’s services to private banks and wealth managers, with a broader, more flexible, more scalable offering”.
Robinhood snaps up custodial and portfolio management platform TradePMR in $300m deal
Robinhood adds TradePMR to its growing portfolio
Digital trading app Robinhood has acquired TradePMR, a custodial and portfolio management platform for registered investment advisors, in a deal valued at up to $300 million.
Consisting of both cash and stock, Robinhood says the acquisition will accelerate its “delivery of investment advisory capabilities” in line with its planned expansion into wealth management services.
Robinhood intends to create a platform where advisors and clients can view their managed assets directly within the Robinhood app using TradePMR’s open architecture platform, Fusion.
Going forward, Robb Baldwin, founder and CEO of TradePMR, along with the TradePMR team, will join Robinhood following the completion of the acquisition, expected in H1 2025.
