Blackstone Makes £140 Million Strategic Investment in Currencies Direct

To facilitate the acceleration of its expansion, Currencies Direct, a global provider of digital foreign exchange (FX) and global payment services to private clients and SMEs, announced a strategic investment worth £140 million from Blackstone today.

Palamon Capital Partners and Corsair mentioned that the funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities have agreed to make the strategic investment in Currencies Direct to help the company achieve its growth targets through acquisitions.

Currencies Direct has seen rapid growth in demand for its services in the last few months. For the 12 months ending January 2022, the digital FX and payment services provider saw £105 million in revenues and £43 million in EBITDA.

“We are pleased to welcome Blackstone as a strategic investor alongside our long-term partners Palamon and Corsair. We are confident Blackstone’s expansive resources and expertise will help fuel our growth as we build on our significant momentum. Together with Palamon and Corsair, we have built a successful, sustainable and innovative business with the knowledge, technology and global footprint required to deliver best-in-class digital FX and international payment services,” Keith Hatton, the CEO of Currencies Direct, commented.

Blackstone will join the Board of Directors of Currencies Direct. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Currencies Direct

Founded in 1996, Currencies Direct has offices in different regions around the world. According to the company, it has worked with more than 425,000 customers. Recently, the firm developed partnerships with some of the leading wealth and asset management companies in the United Kingdom.

“We are delighted to invest in Currencies Direct, a leader in FX payments with an impressive track record of strong continuous growth and a cutting-edge, scalable technology platform that can be leveraged to integrate and capitalize on the significant consolidation opportunities in the market. We look forward to working with the Company in partnership with Palamon and Corsair to find attractive M&A targets that can promote the expansion of Currencies Direct’s platform and further enhance its solutions for customers,” Qasim Abbas, the Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said.