etting out on a multi-stage acquisition of US-headquartered Athena Systems, United Fintech remains focused on its expansion efforts in order to become the banking sector’s ‘one-stop-shop’ for capital markets products, “broadening the scope to target an asset management industry in urgent need of technological innovation.”
As an initial step in a multi-stage acquisition, United Fintech has acquired a 25% stake in US-founded Athena Systems for “an undisclosed amount, aiming to obtain another 26% in two years and the 49% remainder in three years, in a transaction onboarding the Company, its clients and employees onto United Fintech’s digital platform.”
As mentioned in a release, Athena, operating from business offices in the US, Spain and Vietnam, services asset managers and hedge funds via its Portfolio Order Management System (POMS) Athena Spark.
United Fintech CEO Christian Frahm notes Athena fits in with a strategy of acquiring capital markets software products “ready for scaling and global roll-out on United Fintech’s platform.”
Christian remarked:
“From early conversations with founders Luis Otero, Stefano Guarnieri and Scott Sykowski, key staff as well as core clients, it was clear to us that Athena Systems has amazing technology, world class people and in-depth technical understanding of their customers’ needs. Making Athena part of United Fintech felt like a great match from day one and we are convinced we can scale the Company globally and together become leaders in the space within the next 3-4 years.”
United Fintech has acquired FairXchange, TTM Zero and NetDania, employing 130 professionals across Europe and the US. With the acquisition of Athena Systems, United Fintech aims to add a new product offering “within asset management to roll out across its platform.”
Over the next few years, it is United Fintech’s goal to finalize other acquisitions of “ready-to-scale” Fintech platforms with established capital markets products, positive cash flow and growth potential in order “to build a fintech ‘one-stop-shop’ that global banks and financial institutions can benefit from – and become market leader in this niche.”
Luis Otero, CEO of Athena Systems, stated:
“United Fintech has the vision of creating a financial services network to serve all the biggest banks and institutional funds with a set of tools that will allow them to perform all kinds of activities without the need of any other provider and as you can imagine, this is a great opportunity for all of us. We are now part of a bigger company whose purpose is to help us scale and convert Athena into the best POMS provider in the world.”
United Fintech was launched in November 2020 by Danish-born Christian Frahm, who in 2016 sold his fintech firm CFH Group to Playtech Plc.
Frahm added:
“The financial services industry is waking up to a reality demanding not only that they digitize, but also help their clients digitize. Just like banks, the managed money space is seeing huge disruption from free stock trading, robo advisors and new fintech startups, and this is where fintech -and in particular Athena- can make a huge difference. You must keep in mind that wealth creation is at a record-pace.”
For more details on this update, check here.