Plus500 acquires Cunningham Commodities to gain U.S. foothold By Investing.com

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – UK-listed trading platform Plus500 (LON:PLUSP) has announced plans to acquire Cunningham Commodities and Cunningham Trading Systems to enable access to the growing United States retail trading market.

Cunningham Commodities is a regulated Futures Commission Merchant and Cunningham Trading Systems is a technology trading platform provider.

The acquisition will cost Plus500 about $30mln and will be funded from Plus500’s existing cash balances and paid upon completion, subject to certain adjustments.

Strategic rationale

The acquisition will give Plus500 a stronger foothold in the US market and provide its product to the significantly growing US retail-trading market.

The acquisition is expected to ensure immediate access to, and the requisite licences to operation in, the sizable and growing US market, where the company does not currently operate or have a presence.

The acquisition is expected to complete in Q3 2021 and be earnings accretive in its first full year.

“We are delighted to announce Plus500’s first acquisition and first entry into the US market,” said Plus500 CEO David Zruia. “With a combination of Plus500’s best-in-class technology and Cunningham’s and CTS’s existing infrastructure, we expect to develop and scale the business in the growing US market and deliver long term shareholder value.”

At 11:43 Plus500 shares were trading higher by 1.75% at 1,522.20 pence per share.