J.P. Morgan has confirmed its plans to acquire Ireland-based fintech Global Shares in a $730 million (€665 million) deal. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of the year.
Founded in 2005, Global Shares began as a low-margin service business. With Tim Houstoun as leader, however, it has become a leading global provider of employee share management products.
“There will be no job losses. In fact, the opposite is expected, with more roles to come,” a person close to the deal said.
With assets of nearly $200 billion (€182 billion) under administration across 650,000 corporate employee participants, Global Shares counts Morgan Stanley and Compushare as some of its main competitors. Its clients include Saudi Aramco, L’Oréal, Bosch, Bose, Krispy Kreme, and Cargill, which is the world’s largest privately owned company.
After a significant rise in demand for its products, last year Global Shares revised its revenue guidance upward. It increased its forecasted full-year revenues from $39 million to $44 million. Global Shares also announced plans for at least 200 new hires by the end of 2022, which will swell its employee count to 550.
“The addition of Global Shares is complementary across our entire J.P. Morgan franchise from new client acquisition for our global private bank and U.S. wealth management businesses to providing new, innovative capabilities to private and public companies globally and helping their employees manage their wealth,” said Mary Callahan Erdoes, Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management.
The eventual plan is for J.P. Morgan to integrate Global Shares into its asset and wealth management business. Employing some 271,025 people, J.P. Morgan is one of the biggest investment banks in the world and made a record $48.3 billion in profit in 2021. It has said it intends to spend $15 billion on tech investments in 2022.
