Social trading focused Retail FX and CFDs broker NAGA Group AG (FRA:N4G), which operates the NAGA.com website, has announced its second major financing of 2021, raising €22.7 million (USD 26.7 million) in new equity capital from Apeiron Investment Group Ltd, which will become a new strategic and long-term investor in NAGA.
Apeiron is the private investment company of entrepreneur and investor Christian Angermayer and Igor Lychagov, founder of Exness, one of the largest Retail FX brokerage firms. Hauck & Aufhäuser acted as sole bookrunner in the transaction.
In addition to participating in the capital increase, Apeiron has entered into a share purchase agreement with its Elevat3 strategy, operating in partnership with Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, to purchase a block of shares from Fosun Group and is in negotiations to acquire additional shares from other shareholders. These transactions are subject to regulatory approvals. In total and upon full completion, Apeiron is targeting a stake of approximately 22% in NAGA.
Earlier this year, as was exclusively reported at the time by FNG, NAGA raised €8 million from PIPE investor Yorkville, in a deal that could increase to €25 million in capital over the next three years. Apeiron is buying in at €5.40 per share, about 5% below NAGA’s closing price Thursday of €5.70.
Following the strategic investment, the NAGA Supervisory Board is to be increased from four to five members at the upcoming Annual General Meeting. The company will propose to elect Christian Angermayer as a new member of the Supervisory Board. In order to be able to add this agenda item to the upcoming Annual General Meeting, the date of the Annual General Meeting was postponed from September 23, 2021 to October 11, 2021.
Benjamin Bilski, Founder and CEO says:
“We are delighted to welcome Apeiron with its Elevat3 strategy as a new strategic partner. We have worked very hard over the last few years and this partnership is an absolute milestone for us. Already, NAGA has more than 1 million registered accounts, operates in more than 100 countries and is on track to grow revenue by more than 100% in 2021 compared to 2020. And that’s just the beginning. I believe that NAGA’s growth can be accelerated with the proceeds of the current capital increase and with the strategic input of our new shareholders. “
Christian Angermayer commented:
“NAGA is one of the fastest growing neo-brokers in the world. The company has impressively proven that combining social media, investments, cryptocurrencies and payments on one platform attracts a new generation of investors who are used to a simple user experience and all services just a tap away. This retail investment market is growing rapidly and offers tremendous potential. I am very much looking forward to working with the founders, the board, Igor and Fosun.”
Alan Liu, global partner of Fosun and board member NAGA said,
“We are delighted to be working with Christian, who has a proven track record of building global technology champions. We are also honored to welcome Igor Lychagov to our investor table, his retail brokerage experience is truly second to none.”