CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
US English

Australian BNPL firm Afterpay (APT) sale to Block approved

By Debabrata Das

01:49, 14 December 2021

Afterpay logo on a laptop
At a meeting on Tuesday, 99.79% of the stockholders votes were in favour of the takeover – Photo: Shutterstock

Stockholders of Australian buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Afterpay have agreed to a $29bn takeover by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s company Block, previously known as Square.

Block’s investors had already approved the deal last month and with the approval from Afterpay’s stockholders, the acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of January 2022.

At a meeting held on Tuesday, 99.79% of the stockholders votes were in favour of the takeover. The meeting had previously been delayed as Block was awaiting an approval from the Bank of Spain.

Shared vision with Block

However, Afterpay’s management said it had received an order from the Supreme Court of New South Wales to amend the deal and make the Bank of Spain approval a “condition subsequent” rather than a “condition precedent” to move ahead with the stockholders’ meeting and move on with the transaction.

Gold

2,018.43 Price
-0.520% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0200%
Short position overnight fee 0.0118%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.50

XRP/USD

0.63 Price
-0.730% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0753%
Short position overnight fee 0.0069%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.01168

BTC/USD

43,575.15 Price
+3.820% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 106.00

US100

15,828.50 Price
+0.120% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0263%
Short position overnight fee 0.0041%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 1.8

“Since our first meetings with the Block team, we’ve known that we share a vision of financial empowerment. And while we’ve been limited in the extent that we can bring our companies physically together since announcing the transaction, I’ve been proud to see how the teams of both companies plan to design, optimise and integrate post-completion,” Anthony Eisen, co-CEO and managing director of Afterpay, told stockholders.

“At Afterpay we’ve been long-term admirers of the Block team, and in many ways have lived a parallel journey as entrepreneurs focused on creating more inclusive commerce opportunities. I’m incredibly humbled that with your support we’ll soon be joining forces to further scale and shape our businesses with a shared purpose,” said Nick Molnar, co-CEO and managing director of Afterpay.

Afterpay stock tumbles

Following the announcement, Afterpay’s stock price was trading 3.81% lower during early trading in Sydney at AUD90.88.

Read more: Afterpay (APT) falls as Square deal completion delayed

Rate this article

The difference between trading assets and CFDs
The main difference between CFD trading and trading assets, such as commodities and stocks, is that you don’t own the underlying asset when you trade on a CFD.
You can still benefit if the market moves in your favour, or make a loss if it moves against you. However, with traditional trading you enter a contract to exchange the legal ownership of the individual shares or the commodities for money, and you own this until you sell it again.
CFDs are leveraged products, which means that you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of the CFD trade in order to open a position. But with traditional trading, you buy the assets for the full amount. In the UK, there is no stamp duty on CFD trading, but there is when you buy stocks, for example.
CFDs attract overnight costs to hold the trades (unless you use 1-1 leverage), which makes them more suited to short-term trading opportunities. Stocks and commodities are more normally bought and held for longer. You might also pay a broker commission or fees when buying and selling assets direct and you’d need somewhere to store them safely.
Capital Com is an execution-only service provider. The material provided on this website is for information purposes only and should not be understood as an investment advice. Any opinion that may be provided on this page does not constitute a recommendation by Capital Com or its agents. We do not make any representations or warranty on the accuracy or completeness of the information that is provided on this page. If you rely on the information on this page then you do so entirely on your own risk.

Still looking for a broker you can trust?

Join the 570.000+ traders worldwide that chose to trade with Capital.com

1. Create & verify your account 2. Make your first deposit 3. You’re all set. Start trading