(September 22 – 10:00 ET) – E*TRADE Group says it has signed an agreement to sell its stake in its French licensee CPR-E*TRADE for 82 million euros.
The online brokerage will sell its 34% stake in CPR-E*TRADE to CPR. CPR-E*TRADE, was launched in March 1999. It was formed after E*TRADE NetBourse, the firm’s master licensee for France, Italy, Austria and the Benelux countries, signed a licensing agreement with CPR in December 1998. E*TRADE acquired 100% of NetBourse in November 1999. It also recently finished acquiring 100% of Versus Technologies Inc., its Canadian licensee, as it has done elsewhere around the world.
E*TRADE apparently could not reach the same deal with CPR, saying, “Both parties have concluded that terminating the current arrangement is to their mutual benefit as E*TRADE Group and CPR have differing views for the future of CPR-E*TRADE.”
The divestiture will mean cancelling the existing licence agreement, removing the E*TRADE name from the firm. It also allows E*TRADE to pursue its pan-European strategy with majority ownership positions in the major European markets, and it provides E*TRADE the ability to establish a majority owned position in France.
The company’s objectives in Europe are to build upon its global brand through a two-tiered strategy, focused on majority or 100% ownership positions in Europe’s leading online brokerage markets and establishing other relationships in the emerging online brokerage markets. “Our agreement with CPR provides E*TRADE with greater flexibility to deliver on our global electronic model and consolidate European revenues,” said Christos Cotsakos, chairman of the board and CEO.
“E*TRADE is now advancing an aggressive European growth strategy that targets key developed markets such as the UK, Germany, France and the Nordic countries, as well as the fast growing Southern European markets. Europe is a key component of our plan to build the leading online financial services company on the planet.”
-IE Staff