Finastra acquires Olfa Soft SA
Niederer Kraft Frey advised Finastra as Swiss counsel on the acquisition of Olfa Soft SA and its cutting edge FX e-trading platform for banks and financial institutions. International law firm Pinsent Masons acted as international counsel.
The move enables Finastra to deliver a unique end-to-end real-time eFX trading solution for banks’ treasury departments, covering distribution, position-keeping, post-trade and payments. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Olfa Soft specializes in the field of trading platform design and integration, providing seamless FX services. The company is a natural fit for Finastra given its complementary solutions and customers.
The NKF team was led by Technology partner Clara-Ann Gordon and Corporate/M&A partners Patrik R. Peyer and Manuel Werder working with senior associate Moritz Maurer, associate Victor Stancescu and junior associates Anne-Catherine Cardinaux and Carlo Egle on Corporate/M&A, partner Andreas Vögeli and associate Oliver Zbinden on Real Estate, counsel Andrea Nordin on Tax, counsel Christina Rinne on VAT, partner Catherine Grun on employment and Laurence Uttinger on Pensions.
The Pinsent Masons team advising Finastra was led by partner Andrew McMillan and supported by corporate associate, Chris Watts working with Minerva Vanni on Corporate, Samantha Livesey, Felicity Parsons and Samuel Hall on Commercial and Satvi Vepa on Tax.
Nadeem Syed, CEO at Finastra said, “Bringing Olfa Soft into the Finastra fold enables us to provide treasurers around the world with an innovative approach to eFX trading which is unmatched in comprehensiveness in the market. What’s more, this is our first acquisition as Finastra and signals our commitment to ongoing innovation and growth.” Andrew McMillian added: “Our sectoral expertise was an important factor in the completion of this transaction. As ever, Fintech businesses are adopting cutting-edge technology to stay ahead in this fast-evolving sector and no doubt we’ll continue to see deal activity of this type on the increase.” Clara-Ann Gordon and Patrik Peyer concur with these statements and emphasize the importance of using integrated teams from all practice areas in order to complete these kind of complex transactions.