(Bloomberg) — Carsten Kengeter became Deutsche Boerse AGs chief executive officer two months ago, but hes already making his mark on the exchange operator.
Since Sunday, hes announced about $1.5 billion of takeovers, including the purchase of the currency market called 360T. (His predecessors attempt to buy the New York Stock Exchanges owner, NYSE Euronext, was blocked by European regulators in 2012.) Last week, Deutsche Boerse got approval to open a clearinghouse in Singapore.
The executive, who joined the Frankfurt-based company following a career at UBS Group AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., answered questions during an interview Monday evening.
Q: Theres a lot of focus on China, and Deutsche Boerse is among companies that has announced strategies and initiatives in that region. As CEO, how much will that be your focus, or could there be a tilt toward other regions, including the U.S.?
A: I have got some multi-year history in Asia myself. So my knowledge base of the area and also my remaining connectivity and my frequent travel to the area assist in assessing the opportunity and driving the set of potential that we have there. Im definitely spending time on that.
We are not ignoring the United States as a big market, and I — having been a part of Goldman Sachs for so many years — have a lot of interest in that market. However, there is also a very formidable competitive set in the U.S., so whatever we do there has to be very well thought through, very well measured, and we are looking at that market with the same care and diligence that we would in terms of any other capital allocation.
Q: Was there a bidding war for 360T?
A: I dont think there was a bidding war. I think there were a number of interested parties, but given the situation that I am fresh in the job, that Deutsche Boerse doesnt have a deep history of doing acquisitions, and added to the fact that I had just announced that we were in exclusive talks with SIX about the Stoxx purchase, I dont think there was a firm belief on the part of some of the other houses in this competition that Deutsche Boerse would have all that much interest.
There was also a little bit of a local flavor going on as well – – the company is based in Frankfurt, etc. — I think gave us an opportunity to acquire an asset which I think fits us very well in terms of our organic aspirations, because its really bolt-on for our organic, new asset class, new client, and growth aspirations that we have.
Had there been a bidding war, I think some of the participants might have had more ammunition than we have right now, because weve done a number of other things in the meantime. It wasnt really a bidding war. It was a process which we, through some expertise, maybe came out on top.
Q: Will you bring any of the Goldman Sachs culture to Deutsche Boerse?
A: An organization has its own culture and can only benefit partially from the impetus that individual people or individual groups of people might be able to add. So I think Im trying to add something positive, but we will see how much that can be. Im relying on my previous experiences, thats correct, and the Goldman experience was obviously a very formative one.
