Deutsche Börse has agreed to purchase Axioma, a software analytics company based in the US, for a deal worth $850m. The German-based capital marketplace plans to combine Axioma with its index businesses STOXX and DAX to form a new company that is still yet to be disclosed.
Axioma offers cloud-based portfolio and risk management solutions which will be combined with Deutsche Börse’s index businesses to offer a varied suite of index and analytics products across the globe.
The new company is a result of a partnership between Deutsche Börse and General Atlantic, an equity investor, which will invest approximately $715m into the new company following the €2.6bn valuation of Deutsche Börse’s index businesses. General Atlantic’s invested capital will be used to finance the acquisition of Axioma and will take 19 per cent shareholding in the new company.
Theodor Weimer, CEO of Deutsche Börse, said in a statement: “This transaction is a step change for our pre-trading business and fully in line with our Roadmap 2020 strategy, which besides organic growth builds on programmatic M&A and new technologies.
“We are also excited about the partnership with General Atlantic and believe it will help to further accelerate growth of the combined business and to achieve strong value creation.”
The newly formed company will be led by the current Axioma CEO Sebastian Ceria. A number of Axioma’s management team, which remain current owners, plan to reinvest $105m of their sales proceeds alongside General Atlantic into the new company.
