U.K. regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided to block FNZ’s controversial acquisition of GBST, arguing that the combined company will lead to less competition, which could foster higher costs and a drop in the quality of service for U.K. consumers. After a fierce bidding war last summer that involved FNZ’s competitors Bravura… Read More >>
Firms Should Expand Despite Recession Fears: Q&A
(FTF News recently got time with David Whitaker, president, and Jennifer Hoopes, general counsel, at Foreside, to discuss expansion and related issues amid global recession concerns, tighter margins, Brexit, and other woes. Whitaker oversees Foreside’s business and client development and firm strategy. His career includes a post as vice president of Citigroup Fund Services, where… Read More >>
MarketAxess Buys LiquidityEdge to Sell Treasury Bonds
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will expand its portfolio of traded products and open itself to more competitors with the recently announced $150 million acquisition of LiquidityEdge, a marketplace for U.S. Treasury trading. Already an operator of an electronic platform for trading fixed income securities, MarketAxess is purchasing LiquidityEdge via $100 million in cash and $50 million… Read More >>
Bloomberg Buys RegTek to Add to RHUB
RegTek.Solutions, a regulatory reporting software solutions vendor, has been acquired by Bloomberg for an undisclosed amount, and will expand the reach of Bloomberg’s Regulatory Reporting Hub (RHUB) suite, laying the groundwork for a combined offering to come during the first quarter of next year. A spinoff of Risk Focus, RegTek.Solutions offers “modular software solutions built… Read More >>
Piper Jaffray Buys Sandler O’Neill for $485 Million
Piper Jaffray Companies and Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. confirmed media reports of an acquisition by officially announcing that they signed a definitive agreement giving Piper Jaffray the right to acquire 100 percent of the equity and partnership interests of Sandler O’Neill for $485 million. The proposed acquisition will combine Sandler O’Neill, which has been… Read More >>
StatPro Buys ESG Unit for $3.27 Million
ECPI Unit to Become Part of StatPro StatPro Group, a cloud-based portfolio analysis and asset pricing services vendor, will be enhancing its benchmark offerings for environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings and indices via the acquisition of the ESG research and index business unit (ECPI) from ECPI Group, officials say. The acquisition for a total… Read More >>
Prattle Acquisition Adds to Liquidnet’s A.I. Line-Up
Prattle Purchase Follows Related Liquidnet Acquisitions Liquidnet, an institutional trading network provider, has acquired Prattle, an automated investment research solutions vendor, in a bid to further expand the Liquidnet artificial intelligence (AI) investment analytics platform, officials say. Prattle was launched in 2014 by former academics Evan Schnidman and Bill MacMillan, and provides predictive analytics… Read More >>
Goldman Sachs Acquires United Capital for $750 Million
Goldman Sachs Jolts Wealth Management Strategy Goldman Sachs Group is acquiring United Capital Financial Partners, Inc. for $750 million in cash as a way to broaden the reach of the Wall Street giant’s intellectual capital and investment capabilities, officials say. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of this year, subject to… Read More >>
Broadridge Acquires Rockall Technologies
Broadridge Financial Solutions has taken a major step to expand its front-to-back wealth management capabilities via the acquisition of Rockall Technologies, a provider of securities-based lending (SBL) and collateral management solutions for wealth management firms and commercial banks. Rockall’s collateral management technology targets financial institutions that need to “improve the performance of wealth, retail, commercial… Read More >>
Piper Jaffray Will Acquire Weeden & Co.
Piper Jaffray Companies, which encompasses an investment bank and asset management firm, has acquired 100 percent of broker-dealer Weeden & Co. in a move that will combine Weeden’s agency execution support for equities with Piper’s research sales platform. The combination will target institutional clients requiring execution services, officials say. “The combined trading platform will be… Read More >>
