Morgan Stanley to Acquire Solium

Morgan Stanley has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Solium, a Canadian company providing a software-as-a-service solution for equity administration, financial reporting and compliance. The global financial services firm will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Solium for CAD 19.15 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of approximately $900m, which is the biggest acquisition the company has made in a decade.

This new combination will create a leading provider of stock plan administration services and Workplace Wealth; Solium serves 3k stock plan clients, with one million participants, that include Instacart, Levi Strauss, Shopify and Stripe, while Morgan Stanley has 320 stock plan clients, with 1.5 million participants, of which a quarter are in the Fortune 500.

“The acquisition provides Morgan Stanley with broader access to corporate clients and a direct channel to their employees, as well as a greater opportunity to establish and develop relationships with a younger demographic and service this population early in their wealth accumulation years.” – Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley, James Gorman.

“We view this acquisition as part of our broader, longer-term strategy, leveraging our digital capabilities in the workplace. By combining stock plan administration, 401(k), other forms of deferred compensation, employee Financial Wellness education and our core Goals-Based Planning technology, we plan to create an integrated ‘Morgan Stanley Wealth Portal,’ which will offer employers the opportunity to deliver tailored financial counseling and industry leading advice to their employees.” – Co-Head of Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley, Andy Saperstein.

“We are creating a global market leader in Equity Administration, offering the most complete set of solutions to meet the challenge of managing equity plans for corporate issuers around the globe. And we are going to connect the world’s leading investment bank on IPOs with our leading private market offering that support early-stage to ‘unicorn’ clients.” – CEO of Solium, Marcos Lopez.