Nasdaq buys Adenza in one of the biggest FinTech M&As in 2023 😳; Global wealth mgmt behemoth is born: UBS completes acquisition of Credit Suisse 🦛; Plaid's building the identity layer for Finance 👀
FinTech is Eating the World, 13 June
Hey Everyone,
Happy Wednesday! Today’s issue is especially hot as we’re looking at Nasdaq buying Adenza in one of the biggest FinTech M&As in 2023 (why it makes sense & the golden opportunity for banks), the birth of the global wealth management behemoth as UBS finalizes the acquisition of Credit Suisse (& what are the implications for the future of banking and finance), and Plaid which is building the identity layer for Finance (& why Plaid is one of the most interesting FinTechs out there). Let’s jump straight into the thrilling stuff 🌶
Nasdaq acquires Adenza in one of the biggest FinTech M&As in 2023 😳
The deal 🤝 Financial services giant Nasdaq is to acquire capital markets software house Adenza from Thoma Bravo for a whopping $10 billion.
This is not only one of the biggest FinTech M&As in 2023. If completed, the Adenza deal would represent the biggest acquisition in Nasdaq’s history.
More on this 👉 Adenza was created through the combination of treasury management firm Calypso and regulatory software vendor AxiomSL.
The addition of Adenza complements Nasdaq’s Marketplace Technology and Anti-Financial Crime solutions and enhances its offerings across a broader spectrum of regulatory technology, compliance, and risk management systems.
✈️ THE TAKEAWAY
Why this makes sense? 🤔 Adenza is a big win for Nasdaq as it brings in ~$590M of 2023 expected revenue, organic revenue growth of approximately 15%, annual recurring revenue growth of 18%, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 58% 😳 So FinTech is back, baby! Well, FinTechs that sell to FIs and have sticky propositions, to be more precise… 👀 But more importantly, the acquisition is expected to also boost their diversification quite a bit and grow revenue from Nasdaq's Solutions Businesses by a whopping 77%:
That might be an even bigger win in the current environment. Zooming out, we must note that Nasdaq joins its competitors that have also done megadeals to diversify their business mix, with varying degrees of success. London Stock Exchange Group’s share price is little changed from where it stood when the company closed its $15B transaction to buy data provider Refinitiv in January 2021. Meanwhile, Intercontinental Exchange - the owner of Nasdaq’s crosstown rival the New York Stock Exchange has pursued several big-ticket deals in mortgage data and technology (Ellie Mae, Simplifile, Mortgage Electronic Registrations Systems, and Black Knight).
ICYMI: FinTech Winter is a brilliant time for banks to increase acquisitions 💸 [banks, you cannot miss this + 3 bonus reads]