Plus500 has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Cunningham Commodities LLC and Cunningham Trading Systems LLC. This new move is expected to help the company with its strategy to expand into the US market. LeapRate reported the acquisition on the 21st of April when it was first announced and the company has taken 3 months to complete the deal.
Cunningham Commodities is a licensed futures broker that operates within the US market. It uses Cunningham Trading Systems as a trading platform to offer these services to traders. Although Plus500 has acquired both of these companies, it intends to use the Cunningham infrastructure to facilitate its expansion.
With the US market growing rapidly, this presents an opportunity for Plus500 to gain access to a customer base instantly. This follows on from the recent release of Plus500 Invest, a platform to allow access to share trading. This is most likely aimed towards increasing the market share that Plus500 holds within the US.
This latest acquisition is a continuation of Plus500’s strategy of acquiring companies to expand its geographical reach. This is a two-part process that the company carries out as it invests internally in its products and acquires companies that allow access into new markets.
With a combination of Plus500’s best-in-class technology and Cunningham’s and CTS’s existing infrastructure, we expect to develop and scale the business in the growing US market and deliver long term shareholder value. The acquisition represents an important strategic step for Plus500 as we continue to further establish our transition into a global multi-asset Fintech Group.
Before the acquisition, Plus500 held regulatory licenses in several critical financial markets, including the UK, Singapore, and Israel. This new acquisition means that it will have instant access to the US market without going through the lengthy process of gaining a US regulatory license.
It also means that the Cunningham brand will remain as the US face of the company going forwards. However, as long as no regulatory legislation is broken, Plus500 will be able to integrate its technology into what Cunningham has to offer.
There has been no information released in regards to whether Plus500 intends to retain the Cunningham brand in the long term.
Plus500 recently posted an H1 trading update which covers 2021 trading up to the 30th June, revealing a healthy performance, although it does show a decrease in revenue from the H1 for 2020.
Having gained a degree in economics, Alan entered the world of financial services starting his career in London and then moving to New York for a number of years. His first post at a City bank saw him establish a reputation as an forex trader. Having recently returned from New York after eight successful years, Alan is now a prosperous trader in his own right concentrating on commodities and forex.
