The pan-European market operator Euronext announced the completion of the settlement of shares under its offer from April to fully acquire the Danish Central Securities Depository, VP Securities. Euronext will consolidate VP Securities’ accounts in its financial statements.
The shareholders that represent over 90% of the total shares of VP Securities accepted Euronext’s offer and its offer to acquire the remaining shares will remain open until the end of August.
With the acquisition of VP Securities, Euronext becomes a CSD operator with three CSDs in Europe including Euronext VPS in Norway, Interbolsa in Portugal and VP Securities in Denmark, representing €2.2 trillion in assets under custody, 31 million settlement instructions per year and 4.5 million accounts.
Post-trade has reached 23% of Euronext’s pro forma revenue for 2019, significantly increasing the share of non-volume related revenue. Post trading revenue doubled to €39.2 million in the first quarter of 2020, up by 109.3% compared to the Q1 of the previous year.With the acquisition of Oslo Børs VPS in June 2019 and Nord Pool in January 2020, Euronext has developed strong Nordic presence.
The market operator also announced appointing current deputy CEO Maria Hjorth as the new CEO of VP Securities. Hjorth replaces Niels Olsen who resigned to pursue personal projects, after leading the strong development of VP Securities over the past seven years. At her new position Maria Hjorth will report to Anthony Attia, Euronext’s Global Head of Listing and Post-Trade.
VP Securities is entering into a new phase of its development, as a Euronext company. It is now part of a larger, international group, with a clear strategy: build the leading pan-European market infrastructure.
Since I joined VP, I have led and developed our company strategy as a standalone business. I am delighted to now become CEO of the company to lead the next step of its transformation as part of a larger group. I want to thank Niels Olsen for seven dedicated years as CEO and I wish him all the best in this new phase of his life.
Niels Olsen, former CEO of VP Securities, commented:
After 30 years in management positions in the financial industry, I have now decided to resign from my position as CEO of VP Securities to look into a more flexible work life. As I hand over to Maria Hjorth, I am pleased to witness VP Securities entering a new stage of its development as it becomes part of the Euronext Group, and I wish VP Securities and Euronext all the best for the future.
Stéphane Boujnah, CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board of Euronext, said:
Stéphane Boujnah
Post-trade activities are at the heart of Euronext’s growth strategy, and will be an even larger contributor to our revenue following the acquisition of VP Securities. Alongside Euronext VPS and Interbolsa, we will strengthen our positioning in this field, and continue to expand our footprint in the Nordic region with new and improved services to the benefit of the Danish economy and European capital markets. I would like to thank Niels Olsen for his achievements and success as CEO and welcome Maria Hjorth as the new CEO of VP Securities. I have full confidence that, under her leadership, VP Securities will continue its successful development within the pan-European framework of the Euronext Group.
Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
