The Moneycorp Group has reached agreements to acquire fast-growing Brazilian foreign exchange business, Novo Mundo Corretora de Câmbio, and UK-based currency specialist, First Rate FX Ltd.
Moneycorp first signed an agreement to invest in the South American business in August 2015 and following Central Bank and Presidential approval in Brazil, will now acquire a majority interest in the business during early January 2018.
With offices across São Paolo, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador, Novo Mundo Corretora de Câmbio offers a range of foreign exchange services, including international payments, bank notes, and MasterCard currency card services. The business has seen continued growth across its corporate and private divisions since moneycorp’s initial partnership, with a 31% increase in turnover in the last two years.
In tandem, moneycorp has also completed a deal to acquire Canary Wharf-based First Rate FX Ltd., a specialist broker with a 13-year history in foreign exchange. The First Rate FX team, which completed over 20,000 transactions between 2016-2017, will move to moneycorp’s headquarters in Victoria. Its founders, Lisa and Christopher O’Brien, will join the leadership team within the Moneycorp Group.
Both businesses will now fall under the Moneycorp Group brand and their customers will be transferred onto moneycorp’s leading payments platform, which already services customers globally, through dedicated moneycorp offices in Spain, France, Gibraltar, Romania, Australia, US, and Ireland. Over recent years, the expansion of moneycorp’s platform, providing services to customers via app, mobile, web, and phone, as well as sophisticated technology for payments customers, has seen organic profit growth of 20%.
These two announcements mark the end of an exciting year for moneycorp and are the latest in a series of national and international deals, including the agreement to buy US-based corporate international payments business, Commonwealth Foreign Exchange Inc., in May.
Nick Haslehurst, CFOO of moneycorp said:
“Our two latest acquisitions further strengthen moneycorp’s local and international offering. Finalising our purchase of Novo Mundo is part of moneycorp’s long-term ambition to establish a firm foothold in a market that has shown great promise for FX and international payments moving forward.
“Whilst our global expansion plans are set to continue, we also want to bolster our presence here in the UK. First Rate FX is a well-established currency broker with a customer base that is well-suited to moneycorp’s proposition. We look forward to welcoming the First Rate FX team and continuing to work with its founders, Lisa and Christopher, to ensure their successes continue as part of the moneycorp brand.”