The co-founders of Saxo Bank, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen and some minority shareholders have sold a combined stake of 9.9 per cent of Saxo Bank to Sinar Mas Group, one of the largest business Groups in Indonesia, creating an opportunity to strengthen the Bank's growth in Asia.
Saxo Bank's co-founders, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, have together sold a 7 per cent stake of the business to Indonesia's Sinar Mas Group. It is thought that the new shareholder will be a strong partner in the Asian markets that can strengthen the Bank's already solid growth in Asia delivering it's award winning multi asset trading platform to investors and traders.
In addition, other minority shareholders in Saxo Bank exercised their Tag-Along Right to join the transaction and sold a combined 2.9 per cent of the shares. Sinar Mas Group will thus acquire a 9.9 per cent stake of Saxo Bank. Lars Seier Christensen and Kim Fournais continue to own more than half of the Bank's equity equivalent to 52 per cent and continue, in cooperation with the global private equity firm TPG Capital, to be the controlling shareholders of the Bank.
In a joint statement, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, said, "This is a strategic sale of shares following an offer received from a partner who will really help open further doors to the Asian markets, where Saxo Bank is already experiencing solid growth. We look forward to a close and successful collaboration with Sinar Mas Group supporting investors and traders in Asia with unparalleled access to global financial markets.
"Since we founded the company 23 years ago, we have invested heavily in technology, enabled opportunities for private and professional investors and traders and with the recent launch of SaxoTraderGO we have delivered to our clients the trading platform of the future.”
Danny Oei of Sinar Mas Group commented, "Saxo Bank is an attractive investment for Sinar Mas Group because of its disruptive trading technology and vast experience in the financial markets. Saxo Bank is already an established name in most markets, and Sinar Mas Group can help spur growth in the Asian markets with its presence, network and competencies.”
Sinar Mas Group has acquired 9.9 per cent of the Bank's shares at a price of 951m DKK (127.5m EUR), valuing Saxo Bank at 9.6 billion DKK.