2018 September 14th, Copenhagen, Denmark. Saxo Bank, the leading fintech specialist provider of multi-asset trading and investing, today announced that all the necessary regulatory approvals have been received to enable China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd (Geely Holding Group) and Sampo plc of Finland (Sampo) to acquire shares in Saxo Bank A/S.
Following the approval and reflecting the new ownership structure of Saxo Bank, Daniel Donghui Li has been elected chairman and new members of the board have been appointed at an extraordinary general meeting that marked the successful closing of the transactions.
In October 2017, shareholders of the Saxo Bank Group (“Saxo”) announced an offer received from Geely Financials Denmark A/S, a subsidiary of Geely Holding Group, to acquire a majority stake in Saxo Bank. At the same time, Sampo, a leading Nordic financial services group, made an offer to acquire a 19.9 percent interest in the Bank.
The closing of the transactions means that TPG Capital, Lars Seier Christensen and SinarMas sell their interests in Saxo Bank amounting to 29.26 percent, 25.71 percent and 9.9 percent respectively. Some minority shareholders have also agreed to sell their shares to Geely Holding Group and Sampo resulting in stakes of 52 percent and 19.9 percent respectively. CEO and Founder Kim Fournais’ share of 25.71 percent of the Bank remains unchanged.
The transaction values Saxo Bank at EUR 1.325 bn.
In proportion to Saxo Bank’s international presence the process of closing the transactions has been subject to regulatory approvals from 11 different financial and competition authorities with Geely Holding Group and Sampo receiving approval to buy the shares from the Danish FSA earlier this year.
At an extraordinary general meeting on 13 September 2018, the shareholders of Saxo Bank agreed to change the composition of the Board of Directors with Daniel Donghui Li, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Geely Holding Group becoming the Chairman of Saxo Bank and Henrik Normann Vice-chairman. After the general meeting, Saxo Bank’s board consists of:
- Daniel Donghui Li, Chairman
- Henrik Normann, Vice-chairman
- Ian Zhang, Board Member
- Preben Damgaard, Board Member
- Patrick Lapveteläinen, Board Member
CEO and Founder, Kim Fournais, said:
“Today, we proudly welcome Geely and Sampo as shareholders. It is an important milestone for Saxo Bank and for me personally as CEO, founder and shareholder. The track-records of both Geely and Sampo are unparalleled and I am confident that the new ownership structure will provide us with the right foundation to deliver long term growth. With Geely as a shareholder, we will benefit from a strong position in growth markets in the Asia region, with Greater China at its core. At the same time Sampo, as the leading blue-chip investor in the Nordic financial industry, further strengthens our Nordic foundation.”
Daniel Donghui Li, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Geely Holding Group and Chairman of the board at Saxo Bank, said:
“We believe that Saxo Bank’s technologies and products can be effectively expanded across Asia, where we hope to build on its strong reputation in global financial and regulatory technology. This is expected to generate synergies from the development of financial services in the Chinese market.”
Kari Stadigh, Chief Executive Officer and President, Sampo Group, added:
“Saxo Bank is one of the most interesting companies in the Nordic fintech sector. Saxo Bank’s unique and highly advanced trading and investment platforms are, in our view, the best in the market and have great potential globally. We are excited to be part of this success story.”
In due course, Saxo Bank and its new shareholders will announce potential new areas of cooperation and partnerships to enable the business to capitalize fully on its financial technology capabilities around the world.
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 more than 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.
About Geely
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (ZGH) is a global automotive group that owns several well-known international automotive brands, with operations spanning the automotive value chain, from research, development and design to production, sales and servicing.
Founded in 1986 by Eric Li, the company’s Chairman, in the city of Taizhou in China’s Zhejiang province, Geely Holding launched its automotive business in 1997 and is now headquartered in Hangzhou, China. The Group is comprised of five main businesses: Geely Auto Group, Volvo Car Group and Geely Commercial Vehicles Group, Geely New Business Group and Mitime Group. Its brands include Geely Auto, LYNK & CO, Volvo Car, Polestar, London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC), Yuan Cheng Auto, PROTON, Lotus, and Terrafugia.
ZGH sold over 1.8 million vehicles in 2017, with Volvo Car sales reaching historic highs of 571,577 cars globally and Geely Auto Group sales growing over 63 percent to reach 1,247,116 units in total.
ZGH has over 80,000 employees across the world, and has been listed in the Fortune 500 for the past six years. For more information regarding Zhejiang Geely Holdings please refer to the official website at localhost/geelyholding
About Sampo
Sampo Group is a leading Nordic financial group operating in property and casualty insurance and life insurance business. The parent company Sampo plc is listed in Nasdaq Helsinki with a market capital of EUR 25 billion. Sampo’s subsidiary If P&C Insurance is the largest property and casualty insurer in the Nordic region, with more than 3.7 million customers in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
In addition, Topdanmark is the second largest property and casualty insurer and the sixth largest life insurance company in Denmark. Mandatum Life is a financial services company that provides wealth management, remuneration services and personal risk insurance to private and corporate customers in Finland and in Baltic countries. Sampo plc is also the largest shareholder in Nordea Bank, the largest bank in the Nordics.