TPG Capital has bought a large minority stake in Danish online trading platform Saxo Bank, in a $560m deal that marked the US buy-out groupâ??s first foray into the western European financial services sector.Saxo Bank on Thursday said the US buy-out group would buy more than 30 per cent of the online asset manager, along with an option to increase its stake eventually to 40 per cent.
One of the investors selling out of Saxo Bank is Banco EspÃrito Santo, Portugalâ??s largest publicly traded lender by market capitalisation.
TPG has been examining the European financial services sector for a while.
The Texas-based group held talks, which were eventually abandoned, with Bank of Ireland this year about taking a minority stake, and it has been closely watching the Spanish savings banksâ?? sector.
Asiff Hirji, TPGâ??s partner responsible for the Saxo Bank deal, aims to expand the online trading platformâ??s business in Asia and broaden it out from its focus on currency trading.
The trading platformâ??s founders, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, will keep their majority stake in the business and stay on as chief executives.
Saxo Bank had assets under management of DKr32.36bn (â?¬4.3bn) at the end of the first half of 2011, when it reported a 37 per cent drop in net profits to DKr346m.
