EQT, an investment firm, along with Banking Circle’s founders and additional co-investors, have taken over Banking Circle, which provides a platform for B2B cross-border payments. Specifically, EQT made the move through EQT VIII and EQT Ventures. Banking Circle’s current leadership and management team, including co-CEOs Anders la Cour and Laust Bertelsen, will stay on to run the company.
The acquisition is forecasted to be completed sometime in the fourth quarter of 2018. The financials of the deal have not been disclosed.
EQT said that it had been following Banking Circle’s development for years and were impressed by their innovation and management team. Mads Ditlevsen, responsible deal partner and partner at EQT Partners, says that Banking Circle have built “an innovative, secure, and highly automated platform to make competitive, faster, and more transparent payments across borders” and that they are looking forward to the partnership.
Banking Circle currently processes around EUR 60 billion run-rate annual payment volumes for many high-profile clients.
EQT, in its acquisition, will aid Banking Circle’s continuous growth, both in terms of geography and portfolio. Banking Circle will gain access to EQT’s financial and operational resources.
Founder and CEO of Saxo Bank, Kim Fournais, had the following to say about the acquisition:
“As investor and incubator, we have supported the company with our core competencies in foreign exchange as well as developing and managing global fintech solutions. We look forward to continuing a close collaboration with the company and EQT, leveraging our technology and market access.”
La Cour and Bertelsen thanked Saxo Bank for their partnership and said the two entities would continue to collaborate in the coming years. They also stated that they “are excited to partner with EQT” and that “with their support, we will be ideally positioned to continue innovating to serve our customers even better and continue our rapid growth”.
Banking Circle has won many awards and is headquartered in Denmark.