De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) granted the German online trading broker Flatex AG declaration of no-objection (DNO) on the acquisition of 100% of the shares in European brokerage company DeGiro. The acquisition is expected to complete by 1 August.
In December last year, Flatex acquired 9.4% of the Amsterdam-based DeGiro with the remaining 90.6% awaiting regulatory approval. Flatex received that approval yesterday from DNB and will now purchase the remaining part of DeGiro.
Flatex will execute the purchase through a mix of cash and shares. Up to 7.5 million new Flatex shares will be issued to the shareholders of DeGiro precluding the subscription rights of existing shareholders. Flatex will also pay on a debt-and-cash-free basis EUR 36.4 million in cash.
Flatex CEO Frank Niehage also received a regulatory approval and will now join the supervisory board of DeGiro.
When we signed the transaction, DEGIRO had less than 500k customers. We are now closing the transaction with 250k additional new clients at no additional costs and are becoming the first and largest pan-European online broker. The project to provide cash for DEGIRO clients’ accounts at flatex bank is already fully under way. We expect almost all EUR assets to be moved to flatex Bank by the end of Q3 2020. I am looking very much forward to working closely with my DEGIRO supervisory board colleagues on the future success of our European brokerage franchise.
Muhamad Chahrour, CFO of flatex AG added:
The first half of the year was exceptionally strong with elevated levels of volatility driving trading behavior and a strong growth in number of new clients – a trend fully extending into July. Providing proper cash accounts for DEGIRO clients with flatex Bank will further fuel client growth and will give DEGIRO clients for the first time ever access to a statutory deposit insurance scheme of a Eurozone bank. We are very confident on the EUR 30 million in annual synergies, first synergies will be leveraged in the second half of 2020.
Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
