The EQT VIII fund and EQT Ventures fund have agreed to acquire Saxo Payments Banking Circle from Saxo Bank.

Founded in 2013, Banking Circle is an online cross-border payments infrastructure provider, which now processes around €60 billion run-rate annual payment volumes for several high-profile customers.

EQT will support Banking Circle’s growth strategy, in current and new geographies, as well as the expansion of the product portfolio. Through EQT, it will access both operational and financial resources to drive innovation, technology investments and talent acquisition.

Banking Circle’s current management team, including founders and co-chief executives Anders la Cour and Laust Bertelsen, will continue to lead the organisation.

“As investor and incubator, we have supported the company with our core competencies in foreign exchange as well as developing and managing global FinTech solutions,” commented Kim Fournais, founder and chief executive of Saxo Bank.

“We see EQT as the ideal partner for the next part of the journey and we are confident that Saxo Payments Banking Circle will thrive and continue its impressive growth trajectory,” he continued, adding that Saxo will continue to have close collaboration with the company and EQT.

Hjalmar Winbladh, partner at EQT Partners and investment advisor to EQT Ventures, added: “Cross-border payments is a large and rapidly growing market dominated by traditional players, and Banking Circle has built a disruptive solution with a strong value proposition.”

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to approval from financial regulators.

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