OANDA acquisition – DZP lawyers advise on one of most important transactions in the trading industry in recent years

Our Law Firm has advised FTMO, the prop trading leader, on finalising the acquisition of the OANDA group, one of the most recognisable global trading platforms. The Seller was a private equity fund managed by CVC Capital Partners, which acquired OANDA in 2018 and developed its forex business. At that time, the company was significantly transformed, expanded its product offering and developed a scalable mobile trading platform.

Today, OANDA is a global fintech company that specialises in providing trading services, forex data and analytical tools, with one of its key assets being the Polish entity. The company is known for its innovative technological solutions and a wide range of products for individual and institutional investors. It operates globally and is present in the world’s most important financial centres, such as Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Toronto and New York.

In the transaction, FTMO acquired all the OANDA group companies, including OANDA TMS Brokers, a brokerage company operating in Poland.

The transaction required a comprehensive legal approach that factored in its global reach, the specific nature of the Polish brokerage, payment and financial services market, and the regulatory requirements for investment firms operating on the forex market. Our team of advisers from the Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Practice: Maciej Zajda, Magdalena Skowrońska, Katarzyna Biarda and Piotr Parzyszek, in cooperation with the international law firm Latham & Watkins, advised and supported FTMO in structuring the transaction, conducting a due diligence (with support from Mateusz Jankowski, an expert in personal data protection, and Katarzyna Zwierz-Wilkocka, who specialises in labour law), and negotiating and finalising the transaction documentation.

Finalisation of the transaction required prior regulatory approvals from capital and financial market supervisory authorities in several jurisdictions. In Poland, due to OANDA TMS Brokers' status as a brokerage house and domestic payment institution, our experts from the Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Practice successfully represented the client in proceedings before the Financial Supervision Authority, which in two decisions in November this year found no grounds for objecting to the indirect acquisition of the Polish broker from the OANDA group.

The transaction is one of the most important acquisitions in the trading industry in recent years, opening up new opportunities for FTMO and strengthening its position in the financial services sector.