Another Chinese conglomerate has broken into the European banking sector as Chinese carmaker Geely, the owner of Volvo, is now the largest shareholder of Danish bank Saxo.
Denmark's leading multi-asset trading and financial-technology firm said in a statement that Geely would become its largest shareholder by buying around 30 percent of its capital.
In a press release Saxo said that its co-founder Lars Seier Christensen received an offer and agreed to sell his stake of 25.71 percent of the bank to Geely pending, among other things, regulatory approvals. The rest will be bought from other small shareholders.
Saxo was founded as brokerage firm called Midas in 1992 before obtaining a banking licence in 2001. It then began to specialise in banking and online financial transactions and eventually entered the Chinese market in 2015, launching a branch in Shanghai.
Chinese Market Beckons
Geely Group was founded by businessman Li Shufu, who is seeking to expand his business to the finance sector.
Other major Saxo shareholders after Geely will be the U.S. fund TPG Capital with 29.26 percent and the company's other co-founder, Kim Fournais, with 25.71 percent.
«Saxo Bank is a trusted trading platform with a strong reputation, we expect to deliver group synergies from the development of financial services both within Geely Group and the wider Chinese market,» said Daniel Donghui Li, Geely group's chief financial officer.
