Plus500 Agrees Brazil Broker Deal With Guru, Second Acquisition in a Week

Plus500 (LON: PLUS) has conditionally agreed to buy Guru, a regulated Brazilian broker-dealer, its second acquisition in about a week. The London-listed group runs online trading platforms for CFDs, share dealing and futures. A broker-dealer is a firm licensed to trade securities for clients.

The shares closed yesterday at 3,318p, down 1.72% from Friday’s close of 3,376p and about 21% below the 4,200p of the 15th of July. They are trading around 0.1% higher shortly after the open on Tuesday.

PLUS.LSE

1M 3M 6M 1Y 5Y

Plus500 will take full ownership of Guru, which is regulated by the Central Bank of Brazil and the country’s securities regulator, the CVM. The licence lets the group build a local offering covering Brazilian stocks, futures, options and fixed income securities.

The deal extends a Latin American push that already includes a local presence in Colombia and a partnership with Brazilian trading-technology firm Nelogica. David Zruia, Plus500’s chief executive officer, said:

Brazil is one of the world’s most attractive trading markets, and acquiring Guru gives us the licence, the experienced local team and the regulatory framework to thrive.

David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer, Plus500

Plus500 is funding the purchase from existing cash, which stood at over $860m on the 30th of June. That is the group’s cash balance, not the price. Consideration is payable on completion, subject to customary regulatory approvals, and the announcement gives no price, no Guru financials and no completion date.

The same is true of Hedge Capital Markets, the US broker-dealer Plus500 agreed to buy last Tuesday, which needs approval from US self-regulator FINRA. That deal underpins a planned US multi-asset “super-app”, one app covering many product types, due in the first quarter of 2027.

With two deals paid for from the same cash pile and neither priced, the market has no way yet to judge value for money. Zruia called Guru another step in the company’s value creation strategy.