Rich Ricci to get £16m in sale of London Stock Exchange rival Aquis Exchange

A rival to the London Stock Exchange is about to be acquired by a Swiss competitor in a multi-million dollar deal.

Aquis Exchange, a competitor to the LSE’s junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM), which targets smaller companies, has backed a £207m takeover bid from Zurich-based SIX.

The deal will see good salaries for Aquis founder and boss Alasdair Haynes, as well as former Barclays banker Rich Ricci, who is a major shareholder.

Haynes, who set up Aquis in 2012, will get £9.8m for his 4.9 per cent stake in the business and Ricci, who owns 7.8 per cent, will raise £15.6m.

Ricci is one of the city’s most colorful figures and once described himself as “the craziest son of a bitch on the planet.”

The horse racing fan was a prominent member of the colorful group of bankers who headed Barclays in the run-up to the financial crisis.

He has since re-emerged as a city kingpin who runs one of the Square Mile’s leading brokerage houses, Panmure Liberum.

SIX’s offer price of 727 pence per share is more than double Aquis’ closing price last Friday and around 170 per cent higher than its trading price of 269 pence when it made its market debut in 2018. .

The takeover bid has been backed by the company’s board of directors, while major shareholders, including Ricci, stock exchange group XTX Markets and investment manager Schroders, have also lent their support.

Overall, investors who own 51 percent of the shares have supported the offering, meaning it will almost certainly go ahead. Aquis shares soared 113.6 per cent, or 375p, to 705p in response.

“As part of SIX, we have a great opportunity to accelerate the development of our business and compete more effectively on the European stage, while maintaining our entrepreneurial spirit,” Haynes said yesterday.

SIX global head of exchanges Bjorn Sibbern said Aquis would continue to operate under its own brand and business model under SIX ownership.