ETX Capital, a UK provider of both financial spread betting and CFD trading services, has been acquired by Guru Capital, the Swiss private equity firm. The deal has been in the pipeline for some time but had been waiting on final approval from the UK’s FCA.
ETX Capital is a well-known brand among UK derivatives traders. It had previously been owned by JRJ Group. Guru Capital said it would be putting two of its partners, Luca Merolla and Ryan Nettles, on the board of ETX Capital as non-executive directors.
ETX Capital occupies a solid position in the UK financial spread betting market and within the broader global CFD trading space. It was established in 1965 and has developed a strong in-house technology platform to support its trading services.
Industry commentators see this as a significant step that could see further expansion of ETX Capital. The broker has already brought on board Gergely Bacso as its new chief technology officer. Clients of ETX Capital can probably expect further enhancements to its TraderPro offering going forward.
Guru Capital is an interesting new name in the CFD broking space. Managing partner Nettles is a familiar name in the forex trading market, having worked at Swissquote as well as brokerages in North America – he was FX joint venture partner at Varengold WPH-Bank in Hamburg, and also a partner with Finex Group in Switzerland. He started his financial career as a commodities broker in the US.
Guru Capital says it is currently seeking investment opportunities with active companies in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions which have a special focus on FX and CFD brokerage, asset management and fintech.
