Rich Ricci lands £16 million in sale of London rival Aquis Exchange
A London Stock Exchange rival is set to be taken over by a Swiss rival in a multi-million pound deal.
Aquis Exchange, a rival to the LSE’s junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM) which focuses on smaller companies, has backed a £207 million takeover bid from Zurich-based SIX.
The deal will provide healthy paydays for Aquis founder and boss Alasdair Haynes and for former Barclays banker Rich Ricci, who is a major shareholder.
The deal will provide healthy paydays for Aquis founder and boss Alasdair Haynes (right) and former Barclays banker Rich Ricci (left), who is a major shareholder
Haynes, who founded Aquis in 2012, will rake in £9.8 million for his 4.9 percent stake in the company and Ricci, who owns 7.8 percent, will rake in £15.6 million.
Ricci is one of the more colorful characters in town, once describing himself as the “craziest motherfucker in the world.”
The horse racing fanatic was a leading member of the colorful pack of bankers at the top of Barclays in the run-up to the financial crisis.
Since then, he has re-emerged as the king of the city, running one of the Square Mile’s premier estate agents, Panmure Liberum.
SIX’s offer price of 727p per share is more than double Aquis’ closing price last Friday and around 170 percent higher than its listing price of 269p when it made its market debut in 2018.
The takeover bid was backed by the company’s board, while major shareholders including Ricci, share trading group XTX Markets and investment manager Schroders have also lent their support.
Overall, investors holding 51 percent of the shares have backed the offer, meaning it will almost certainly go ahead. Aquis shares rose 113.6 percent, or 375p, to 705p in response.
“As part of SIX, we have a great opportunity to accelerate the development of our business and compete more effectively on the European stage, while maintaining our entrepreneurial spirit,” Haynes said yesterday.
Bjorn Sibbern, SIX’s global head of exchanges, said Aquis would continue to operate under its own brand and business model under SIX ownership.
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