SIX finalizes acquisition of controlling stake in BME
SIX has acquired a total of 77,899,990 BME shares, representing 93.16% of BME’s equity share capital.
Swiss financial markets infrastructure operator SIX Group AG today announces the successful completion of its all-cash voluntary tender offer for Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), securing an acceptance level of 93.16% of BME’s share capital.
A total of 77,899,990 shares have been tendered at a price of 32.98 euros, representing a total of EUR 2,569 million or CHF 2,748 million. Following the settlement, SIX will acquire control of BME, which will become part of SIX.
The combination of BME and SIX is set to create a more diversified group with a strong presence across Europe, SIX believes that this transaction will strengthen both the Spanish and Swiss ecosystems bringing new capabilities to BME and SIX participants and attracting new global capital pools to Spain. Strategic use of financial information and data is increasingly important in market infrastructure, and this combination will produce an entity with the scale and flexibility to further invest in innovative solutions for its clients and partners.
SIX will continue to fully deliver its core Swiss financial markets infrastructure services, now enhanced by BME’s expertise in areas such as fixed income, derivatives and indices. BME will continue to fully deliver its core services to their customers in Spain and will benefit from new financial information solutions, as well as blockchain and distributed ledger technology solutions.
The combined group will have the flexibility to deploy more capital on new projects and accelerate investments in innovation. SIX recognises the different opportunities offered by the Spanish market and intends to preserve and further invest in local infrastructures to attract new investors.
The management team of the enlarged group will reflect this new reality: the board of directors of BME will comprise a significant percentage of Spanish representatives and will reflect the new ownership structure, while SIX will propose to give entry to two independent Spanish directors of BME to its own board while Javier Hernani Burzako, CEO of BME, will become a member and join the SIX Executive Board, effective immediately.
SIX has been advised by Credit Suisse, Alantra and Santander (joint financial advisors) as well as Linklaters (legal advisor) on the transaction.
