Multitude SE Contemplates a Relocation to Switzerland
Multitude SE Contemplates a Relocation to Switzerland
Helsinki, 5 January 2024 – Multitude SE, a fully regulated international growth platform for financial technology (ISIN: FI4000106299, WKN: A1W9NS) (“Multitude” or “company”), announces that it contemplates a relocation from Finland to Switzerland while maintaining its legal personality and without dissolution (Relocation).
As Finnish law does not allow the relocation to be carried out directly from Finland to a country outside of the European Economic Area, such as Switzerland, while maintaining the company’s legal personality, the relocation is being considered via Malta. Consequently, the company has begun investigations of a possibility of carrying out the relocation during the year 2024 in phases by first transferring the company’s registered office from Finland to Malta pursuant to Article 8 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 2157/2001 of 8 October 2001 on the Statute for a European company (SE) (SE Regulation), then converting the company into a public limited liability company governed by the laws of Malta pursuant to Article 66 of the SE Regulation, and finally applying to have the company registered in Switzerland pursuant to applicable Maltese and Swiss laws.
No final decisions concerning the relocation have been made at this point, and the relocation remains subject to approvals by the Board of Directors and the Shareholders’ General Meeting both while the company remains in Finland and after a possible transfer of registered office to Malta. Moreover, the relocation remains subject to working through a number of legal, regulatory and tax matters, and the fulfilment of various other conditions, including the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, consents, and confirmations in the various jurisdictions involved in the relocation.
The investigation of the possibility of the relocation is carried out primarily for reasons relating to shareholder rights. Currently, trading in company shares is practically impossible for those of the company’s shareholders whose shares are directly registered in the Finnish central securities depository in their own name. For the rest of the company’s shareholders, whose shares are held by nominees on behalf and on account of the shareholders, it is unreasonably difficult to attend the Shareholders’ General Meetings and use their shareholder rights in such meetings.
Following the relocation, the above-mentioned issues with respect to shareholder rights could be resolved. Additionally, while the company was initially incorporated in Finland by Finnish shareholders, its operations have since expanded significantly and currently the company is a parent company of a multinational group having operations around the globe. Switzerland is being investigated as the ultimate country of registration since Swiss residents hold a majority of the company’s shares, and since several new Swiss investors have become shareholders. Malta is being investigated as the interim country of registration because Maltese legislation allows a re-domiciliation to Switzerland while maintaining legal personality as well as due to the company’s already existing ties to Malta through Multitude Bank p.l.c., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, which is registered and operating as a credit institution under the laws of Malta.
Multitude has previously, in 2021, prepared a transfer of registered office pursuant to the SE Regulation from Finland to Germany but has later announced postponement of such transfer. With the investigation of the relocation, Multitude is no longer considering a transfer to Germany.
There is no certainty that the investigation will lead to the relocation or any other arrangement, that the relocation will be approved, or that all of its conditions will be fulfilled. Further details about the progress will be provided in due course.
With this release, Multitude publishes inside information.
Contact:
Lasse Mäkelä
Chief Strategy and IR Officer
Phone: +41 79 371 34 17
E-Mail: Lasse.makela@multitude.com
About Multitude SE:
Multitude is a fully regulated growth platform for financial technology. Its ambition is to become the most valued financial ecosystem. This vision is backed by 18+ years of solid track record in building and scaling financial technology. Through its full European banking license, profound know-how in technology, regulation, cross-selling, and funding, Multitude enables a range of sustainable banking and financial services to grow and scale. Currently, it has three independent business units on this growth platform: Ferratum as consumer lender, CapitalBox as business lender, and SweepBank as a shopping and financial app. Multitude and its independent units employ over 700 people in 25 countries and offer services in 16 countries, and they together generated EUR 212 million turnover in 2022. Multitude was founded in 2005 in Finland and is listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘FRU.’ www.multitude.com
