Bird & Bird has advised Global Connect Holdings S.a.r.l., a fund belonging to Vitruvian Partners, a European private equity firm and one of the main investors in the fintech company Deposit Solutions on its merger with Raisin. This included advising on the fund's investment in the newly formed Raisin DS GmbH and the underlying corporate governance documentation.
After over a year of preparation, the two companies are forming Raisin DS, a pioneer in the savings and investment market, servicing banks and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. The merger only needs to be registered in the commercial register.
Deposit Solutions is the leading B2B Open Banking platform in the savings deposit space. The company operates deposit marketplaces for over 150 partners, including large institutions such as Deutsche Bank, and connects them with deposit-taking banks from all across Europe.
Raisin is the leading pan-European B2C platform for savings and investments. Raisin’s marketplaces offer consumers simple access to competitive deposit products from all across Europe. In Germany, the FinTech company also offers globally diversified, cost-effective ETF portfolios and ETF-based pension products.
As Raisin DS, both companies will now be able to unite the best-in-class B2B offering and Europe’s leading B2C savings marketplaces under one roof. By joining forces, Deposit Solutions and Raisin are maximising the benefits for all market participants. For savers, the merger means more product choice and decision power, incumbent banks will benefit from more implementation options and product access for their own marketplaces, and deposit-taking banks will receive better access to deposit funding.
Global Connect Holdings S.a.r.l. was advised by the following Bird & Bird lawyers: Partner Dr. Hans Peter Leube, LL.M., (Frankfurt), partner Dr. Stefanie Orttmann, LL.M. (Düsseldorf) (both lead), associate Jan Medele (Düsseldorf), and counsel Andrea Schlote (Munich), all Corporate/ M&A.