Private Equity House Acquires Trading Platform Stake

Tom Burroughes

3 May 2018

An Asia-focused private equity fund has acquired all the outstanding shares of OANDA Global Corp, a global online retail trading platform. The platform hosts transactions in asset classes including currencies, equities, commodities and precious metals.

Shareholders of accepted the offer from a wholly-owned subsidiary of CVC Capital Partners Asia Fund IV to buy the equity, a statement from CVC said.

The transaction is subject to the customary regulatory clearances.

OANDA, which was founded in 1995, will continue to be led by chief executive, Vatsa Narasimha. It has a strong Asian footprint, with offices in OANDA has grown globally with established operations in New Delhi, Tokyo, San Francisco, Singapore and Sydney. It also has offices in New York, San Francisco and London.

CVC said it intends to particularly focus on supporting ONANDA’s business in Asia, and in its making acquisitions and investing to build out products and services.

“OANDA is a consumer-focused business and the management team has an ambitious strategic and product plan to drive value over the next five years, focusing on both organic and inorganic growth,” Narasimha said.

Moelis & Company UK LLP acted as the financial advisor to OANDA and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP acted as legal advisers. FT Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to CVC and White & Case LLP and McCarthy Tetrault LLP acted as legal advisors.

OANDA was founded by Dr Michael Stumm, a professor of Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, and Dr Richard Olsen. The first product introduced in 1996 featured a website providing free currency conversion tools and historical currency data to the public.