Playtech builds financial arm with £117m broker takeover
THE online gambling and investment trading company founded by Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi is to spend up to $150m (£117m) on a UK brokerage firm.
Playtech has snapped up Uk-based Alpha, a financial dealer and broker for institutional and professional clients, from ACM Group for an initial payment of $5m. This could rise to $150m depending on the performance of the acquisition between now and 2019.
It said Alpha’s 20 staff would join the company and that it would be folded into Playtech’s “financials” division, which is to be renamed Tradetech Group.
Playtech said the acquisition of Alpha’s proprietary technology would allow it to offer a greater range of products and services to its growing base of professional clients. It added that Alpha’s technology enabled brokers in the financial trading industry to better track how often and what type of trades their customers were making, thus helping them to propose more trading ideas.
The acquisition will mean Tradetech has a broader appeal for high net-worth traders, which it will serve through a dedicated brand called Marketspro.
Much of its activity in the financial trading sector up until recently has been around the area of spreadbetting, which allows retail investors to speculate on the future price of an asset without actually owning it.