As a first step in a multi-stage acquisition, United Fintech has obtained a 25 per cent stake in US-founded Athena Systems, aiming to obtain another 26 per cent in two years, and the remaining 49 per cent in three years.
Founded by Luis Otero, Steano Guarnieri and Scott Sykowski, Athena services asset managers and hedge funds worldwide through its solution, Athena Spark.
Athena Spark provides front office and back-office functionality to managers and prime brokers with a full life-cycle of software planning, development, implementation and training.
The platform has portfolio analytics, risk, compliance, order management and accounting capabilities that supplies security, control, and integration.
Athena operates with offices in New York, Boston, Madrid, Austin, Texas, Mexico City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Málaga, Spain.
United Fintech was established in November 2020 by Danish-born Christian Frahmby who sold his first fintech firm CFH Group to British-listed Playtech Plc in 2016.
Commenting on the acquisition, Frahm says: “Making Athena part of United Fintech felt like a great match from day one and we are convinced we can scale the company globally and together become leaders in the space within the next three to four years.”
He adds: “The financial services industry is waking up to a reality demanding not only that they digitise, but also help their clients digitise to survive. The sophistication levels required by asset managers today are skyhigh. It is ever more business critical that the service providers adapt with the right tools.”