RBS in first acquisition since ABN Amro with FreeAgent deal
ROYAL BANK of Scotland has snapped up accounting software firm FreeAgent, marking the lender’s first acquisition since its controversial crisis-era deal to buy ABN Amro.
The taxpayer-owned bank said it had agreed to buy the company for around 120p per share, valuing it at £53m.
The decision comes weeks after the company reported its first profit in a decade and as the Government prepares to start selling off its 72 per cent holding.
Chief executive Ross McEwan said: “We have been impressed by FreeAgent and its technology and are excited by the enhanced offering we will be able to provide to our customers.
“We believe that a technologyenabled solution for our business banking customers will make it easier for our customers to build their businesses safely and securely.”
It marks RBS’s first foray into deal-making since its £49bn acquisition of Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007, which quickly turned toxic.
In 2008, RBS was forced to announce an emergency rights issue, asking existing shareholders to inject £12bn into the firm to strengthen its reserves.
Months later, the value of RBS shares plunged 90 per cent, prompting a £45.5bn Government bailout.
FreeAgent specialises in cloudbased accounting software and mobile applications aimed at businesses with 10 or fewer employees. RBS said FreeAgent will continue as an “operationally independent member” of the group with its existing executive management team under the leadership of chief executive Ed Molyneux.
“RBS values the entrepreneurial culture of FreeAgent and believes that by providing access to the additional financial resources and infrastructure of RBS and facilitating access to potential new FreeAgent customers, there is an opportunity to accelerate the growth ambitions of FreeAgent, including within FreeAgent’s existing direct and accountancy practice sales channels.”