Singapore-headquartered wealth management platform Syfe has made a bid to acquire Australia-listed brokerage SelfWealth for A$65 million ($54.70 million) in an all-cash transaction.
In a Feb 4 post on LinkedIn, Syfe confirmed media reports that it had submitted a non-binding indicative offer to acquire SelfWealth at a 12% premium over an existing offer by Australia-listed Bell Financial Group.
The Australian Financial Review first reported on the bid on Feb 2. Syfe’s parent company, the Singapore-based Svava, has already acquired 43.4 million SelfWealth shares, representing 18.8% of issued shares.
Syfe’s chief marketing officer Sebastian Sieber confirmed the shareholding in a Feb 4 LinkedIn post, saying Syfe is “demonstrating our genuine conviction in pursuing this deal”.
Sieber adds: “If successful, this acquisition will significantly expand Syfe’s presence in Australia, integrating Selfwealth’s well-established customer base, employees and reputation with our technology-driven solutions. Together, we aim to empower more investors, enhance financial well-being and drive long-term value for customers and shareholders.”
Sieber says the company “look[s] forward to engaging with the SelfWealth team and will provide updates as the process unfolds”.
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Syfe’s bid represents 28 Australian cents per share, up from Bell Financial’s already-upsized offer of 25 Australian cents.
Syfe’s offer marks a 133% premium to SelfWealth's last close share price of 12 Australian cents as at Nov 12, 2024 — the day before Bell Financial first announced its proposed acquisition.
Bell Financial’s initial offer was just 22 Australian cents, which valued SelfWealth at A$51 million. On Nov 14, 2024, AxiCorp Financial Services, a privately-owned Sydney-based online brokerage, threw its hat into the ring with an offer of 23 Australian cents, valuing SelfWealth at A$58 million.
On Nov 25, 2024, Bell Financial upped its offer to 25 Australian cents. Its shareholders will vote on the proposal at a meeting before end-March.
For now, SelfWealth’s board is sticking to Bell Financial’s offer even though it appears inferior to Syfe’s bid. “The SelfWealth board continues to unanimously recommend that SelfWealth shareholders vote in favour of the Bell offer, in the absence of a superior proposal as defined in the Bell SID (scheme implementation deed) and subject to an independent expert concluding (and continuing to conclude) that the Bell offer is in the best interests of SelfWealth shareholders,” says the company on Feb 3.
That said, SelfWealth acknowledges that Syfe’s offer could “reasonably be considered to become a superior proposal as defined in the Bell SID”, and is engaging further with Svava.
Syfe’s proposal is non-binding and subject to a range of conditions. Among them, Syfe wants SelfWealth to terminate its SID with Bell Financial and enter into exclusivity arrangements and a binding implementation deed with Svava.
In a Feb 4 LinkedIn post, Syfe founder and CEO Dhruv Arora says the proposed acquisition is aligned with Syfe’s strategy of using acquisitions “as a key lever to accelerate Syfe’s growth and expand our platform”.
Arora outlined this strategy in August 2024, when Syfe announced the close of a US$27 million ($36.61 million) Series C-1 funding round. “Through increased investment in development, we will bring even more innovative new products to market while continuously upgrading the Syfe user experience. We will also be assessing strategic investment opportunities or acquisition targets aligned with our mission and growth objectives.”
The round increased Syfe’s valuation and brought total funds raised to US$79 million. The company also announced then that it had become profitable in its home market of Singapore in early 2024.
Arora adds in his post: “SelfWealth has built a trusted brand and a strong presence in Australia’s investing landscape — with over US$7 billion in assets. We see immense potential in combining our strengths to deliver greater value to those who matter most — the end customer.”
Syfe first entered Australia in August 2022 with its digital brokerage service, offering US stocks, ETFs and crypto. Syfe entered the stockbroking market with Syfe Trade in January 2022.
