Euroclear acquires strategic stake in Inversis to accelerate the Spanish company’s global expansion
- As part of the agreement, Euroclear will acquire a strategic stake in Inversis with a plan to full ownership in a period of about 3 years
- Inversis takes a leap forward in its global expansion strategy by joining forces with Euroclear, a world leader in settlement, custody, and fund distribution services
- This transaction will strengthen the Spanish company’s global footprint, after it successfully consolidated its value proposition in Luxembourg through the acquisitions of Banque Havilland’s depositary business and 40% of the fund management and administration firm Adepa
- This investment by Euroclear, a leading provider of financial services, will support Inversis’ large client business line
Inversis, a subsidiary of Banca March, is accelerating its global expansion strategy by partnering with Euroclear, a leading Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI). Euroclear is taking a 49% stake in Inversis, an established Spanish player in global investment technology solutions and outsourced financial services for financial institutions. Subject to regulatory approvals, the agreement will allow Euroclear to acquire 100% of Inversis capital in a period of about 3 years.
Euroclear’s investment in Inversis aims to accelerate the Spanish company’s growth and take it to a higher level. Further investments in technology and workforce will be made to support the growth of the company.
Headquartered in Brussels and privately owned, Euroclear is a trusted provider of post trade services. Euroclear provides settlement and custody of domestic and cross-border securities for bonds, equities and derivatives, and investment funds, with approximately €37 trillion of assets under custody and over €1 quadrillion worth of annual securities transactions (year-end 2023). Euroclear administers €3.3 trillion of fund assets, servicing approximately 3,000 fund distributors and 2,500 fund management companies spanning across 85 countries.
Euroclear’s international entity, Euroclear Bank, one of the main International Central Securities Depositories (ICSD), allows its clients to trade more than a million securities with counterparties all over the world. Euroclear Bank boasts AA ratings from Fitch and Standard & Poor’s and observes a policy of the utmost prudence in risk management. Euroclear’s group underlying capitalisation remains very strong and comfortably above capital requirements with an underlying Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio above 50% (as of end of June 2024).
In Europe, Euroclear operates the domestic CSDs in Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. More than 65% of European blue-chip equities and 50% of European domestic debt outstanding are covered by Euroclear's CSDs.
Banca March CEO, José Luis Acea, said: “Since Banca March acquired full ownership of Inversis in 2014, we have supported its growth strategy, which has been guided by a commitment to offering its institutional clients comprehensive, global solutions as catalysts for their financial asset distribution businesses, with a clear ambition to grow the company’s global footprint. We have found in Euroclear, a leading provider of financial services for the largest international banking entities, the ideal partner to take the company to a new level of growth.”
Inversis CEO, Alberto del Cid, said: “By combining with Euroclear, a prominent provider of financial services for all the major global banking institutions, Inversis will reinforce its large clients’ business. Likewise, Inversis’ existing clients (which include Banca March) will benefit from a stronger value proposition across all the firm’s business areas, including its fund distribution platform, which will be supported by Euroclear’s FundsPlace solution, positioning it as one of the leading global players.”
Valérie Urbain, Chief Executive Officer of Euroclear, said: “We are delighted to join forces with Inversis, a highly attractive business which aligns with our ambition to offer a true end-to-end solution to our clients on the full spectrum of funds products across all regions in Europe and beyond. Inversis’ diversified and resilient business model driven by continued growth perfectly complements Euroclear’s business. As a European leader with a global presence committed to supporting the Capital Markets Union (CMU), Euroclear will improve its coverage in Spain, a market offering significant growth opportunities in the fund distribution space.”
Inversis’ global growth strategy
The company has built an unrivalled value proposition which now encompasses management and administration services, depositary services and a fund distribution platform.
In April 2023, Inversis bought the Luxembourg bank Banque Havilland’s depositary business. The transaction entailed the acquisition of a business portfolio worth around €3 billion and the subsequent opening of a branch in Luxembourg, which has been operational since 31 May. Previously, in late 2022, Inversis had acquired 40% of Luxembourg-based group Adepa, which specialises in investment fund management and administration services.
These two transactions have allowed Inversis to build a comprehensive range of services for financial institutions seeking to develop their product suites by developing Luxembourg-domiciled vehicles, or by accessing specialist services in financial instruments via Luxembourg. The company’s clients will now be able to access the services of Adepa – either as the management company (ManCo) or as administrator of vehicles managed by other management companies – and the services of Inversis, both as a depository through its future Luxembourg branch and through its investment fund distribution platform.
The acquisition of Havilland and the inauguration of a Luxembourg branch, coupled with the agreement reached with Adepa, has positioned Inversis as the only Spanish firm with the capacity to support Spanish and Latin American clients in rolling out their global product strategies out of Luxembourg. The acquisition of Openfinance in July 2023 has also strengthened Inversis' domestic and international product strategy.
www.bancamarch.es 19 de julio de 2024
Banca March is one of the leading banks in private and corporate banking in Spain. It is also the only 100% family-owned bank since its incorporation in 1926. Consistently with a cautious and long-term approach, Banca March’s business model is underpinned by solid financial and capital metrics: highest capital ratio CET 1 (21,26%) in the Spanish market, NPL ratio among the lowest (1.88% as of December 2023 vs an average of 3.54%), and liquidity ratios (LCR at 325.9% and DTL at 168.1%) among the highest in Europe. Banca March’s robust business model has also been acknowledged by Moody’s. The rating agency has raised the bank ‘s long-term deposit rating to A2 with a positive outlook, ranking at the top in the Spanish banking system and ahead of the Kingdom of Spain ‘s, which stands at Baa1. Banca March holds a significant stake in Corporación Financiera Alba, a holding Company with stable, long-term investments in companies such as Naturgy (indirect), Acerinox, Profand, Ebro Foods, Viscofan, Atlantic Aviation and Parques Reunidos, among others.
About Inversis
Inversis, a wholly owned subsidiary of Banca March, is Spain’s leading provider of global investment technology solutions and outsourced financial services for financial institutions, insurance companies and new players in the investment product distribution space.
Since its inception, Inversis has invested consistently in technology and innovation to adapt seamlessly to the needs of the institutional sector. The technology delivered by Inversis allows its institutional clients to outsource non-core activities and processes, enhancing their own efficiency.
Inversis, as well as being an investment product platform, provides intermediation, settlement and custody services, state-of-the-art technology outsourcing solutions, treasury and capital markets services, depositary services, online brokerage services and research services.
About Euroclear
Euroclear group is the financial industry’s trusted provider of post trade services. Guided by its purpose, Euroclear innovates to bring safety, efficiency and connections to financial markets for sustainable economic growth. Euroclear provides settlement and custody of domestic and cross-border securities for bonds, equities and derivatives and investment funds. As a proven, resilient capital market infrastructure, Euroclear is committed to delivering risk-mitigation, automation and efficiency at scale for its global client franchise. The Euroclear group comprises Euroclear Bank, the International and Irish CSD, as well as Euroclear Belgium, Euroclear Finland, Euroclear France, Euroclear Nederland, Euroclear Sweden, Euroclear UK & International.