Saxo Bank Acquisition of BinckBank on Track for Q3 Completion

This Monday BinckBank has published its first half-year report for 2019, providing insight into the companies performance in both the second quarter and first six months of 2019, as well as an update on Saxo Bank’s acquisition.
Vincent Germyns, Chairman of the executive board, said in the report: “The coming months will be largely influenced by Saxo Bank’s offer. If the offer is declared unconditional, the customer will eventually experience the benefits of the collaboration. 

“For the shareholders, I trust that they will consider Saxo Bank’s offer to be attractive and that they will offer their shares within the specified time limits.”
As towards the end of last year, Saxo Bank agreed to purchase Dutch online discount brokerage company BinckBank for €424 million, which translates to €6.35 in cash per share.
In order for the deal to be clarified as unconditional, which at present means that 80 per cent of the shares have been tendered under the offer, the Danish broker has extended the offer period until the end of July.
In addition, Saxo Bank might lower the minimum offer threshold to 67 per cent of the shares, the report said. The transaction is still expected to be completed during the first half of .
“BinckBank and Saxo Bank still expect to meet all conditions or, where applicable, to waive them, on or before the end of the extended offer period,” the report said.
BinckBank financial figures
In the second quarter of 2019, the number of transactions by BinckBank’s customers was more than 2.43 million. When measuring this against the previous quarter, where 2.59 transactions were executed, it is lower by 6 per cent.
Taking a look at the number of transactions for the first half, however, the Dutch broker recorded 5.03 transactions during the period, which is higher by 1 per cent year-on-year from the 4.99 million transactions in the first half of 2018.
In the first half of 2019, net commission income decreased on balance by 17 per cent to €46.1 million compared to €55.5 million in the first half of 2018. This is because of the market conditions in which BinckBank conducts its business activities is challenging thanks to falling trading volumes and increased competition.