Markit Acquires MarketXS to Meet Client Demand for Bespoke Delivery of Data and MiFID Compliance Solutions
London and Amsterdam (ots/PRNewswire)
Markit Group Limited
("Markit"), the leading industry source of independent data,
portfolio valuations and trade processing for the OTC derivative
markets, today announced it has acquired MarketXS Holding N.V.
("MarketXS"). MarketXS is a provider of innovative software and
technology for data distribution and trading solutions to the
financial services industry.The combination of the two firms will provide clients with an enhanced ability to monitor the global financial markets in real-time; to publish and distribute proprietary and public prices and trade information across all asset classes. It will also address the evolving requirements posed by the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).
The combined company will be known as Markit Group Limited and will have over 300 employees with offices in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Chicago, Luxembourg, New York, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto and White Plains.
Markit is the industry benchmark for data and valuations in the global financial and commodity derivative markets. The company also provides trade processing services spanning the complete range of vanilla and exotic OTC derivative instruments. Markit receives daily data contributions from over 65 dealing firms, and its services are used by over 450 institutions to enhance trading operations, reduce risk and manage compliance.
MarketXS delivers integrated market data and trading solutions to over 400 customers in more than 30 countries. The company's market data and order routing technology, the Finance Engine, has extensive capabilities in the areas of pre-trade price transparency, analytics, trading, and post-trade reporting. This hosted real-time platform provides immediate and uniform access to any market or data source from any location, allowing customers to power their data and trading systems.
Lance Uggla, CEO of Markit, said: "The acquisition of MarketXS creates a powerful combination that will allow Markit to create exciting new products. MarketXS's proven technology complements Markit's proprietary data to deliver pricing and valuations seamlessly across all asset classes. The strong synergy between the two companies allows us to meet the increasing demand for real-time information and to address the data requirements relating to MiFID."
Jan De Roeck, CEO of MarketXS, who joins Markit's executive team, commented: "The marriage of MarketXS technology with Markit's unique data franchise will be of tremendous benefit to our clients who will gain access to a superior product offering, supported by a global pool of resources. Traders, institutional investors and operations professionals will be able to access the highest quality market data in the format that suits them best - be it terminal, portal, secure messaging, data feed or API."
Charles Longden, Global Head of Credit Trading at ABN AMRO, noted: "As a client that values the commercial capabilities of both Markit and MarketXS, we welcome this combination of complementary services which will help us evolve further the class-leading service we provide to our clients. Not only will the acquisition enhance Markit's ability to serve the dealer community as our requirements develop, but it will also give institutional investors a new channel through which to access data, accelerating the evolution of the financial markets."
Cor Breur, Global Head of Market Data Competence at Fortis, added: "As substantial users of Markit's data services and MarketXS's analytics and real-time information, we welcome this deal and look forward to the benefits it will clearly bring us."
About Markit Group
Markit Group Limited is the leading provider of independent pricing, reference data, portfolio valuations and OTC derivatives trade processing to the global financial and commodities markets. The company receives daily data contributions from over 65 dealing firms, and its services are used by over 450 institutions to enhance trading operations, reduce risk and manage compliance.
Markit's position in the derivatives markets has been acknowledged by the industry with awards from Credit for Best Operational Support Services Provider 2006; Inside Market Data for Reference Data Provider of the Year 2006, and Company to Watch 2006; Risk Magazine for Trading Initiative of the Year 2006 (Credit Event Fixings); Structured Finance International's Editor's Award for Advancing Structured Finance 2006; International Securitisation Report's Editor's Award for Innovation 2005; International Financing Review's Innovation of the Year 2005 (Credit Event Fixings); Financial News' Best Derivatives Data Provider 2005; and Institutional Investor's Operations Management Award for Vendor of the Year 2005.
www.markit.com
About MarketXS
MarketXS is a leading provider of real-time market data technology and trading solutions. Over 400 customers in more than 30 countries use its high-availability market data and order routing infrastructure, the Finance Engine(TM), to power terminals, websites, transaction systems and other real-time market data applications for front, middle or back-office with any source of data. The Finance Engine(TM) provides maximum flexibility, rapid deployment and low total cost of ownership. MarketXS data sources include IDC ComStock, Dow Jones Newswires, Standard & Poor's, FT Interactive and direct feeds from major exchanges and inter-dealer brokers. Direct trading access is offered to execution venues such as Euronext.liffe, Eurex, Xetra and Saxobank. MarketXS is the exclusive distributor in Europe, Middle East & Africa for the HMDP (based on TRS technology) and OCC (based on Active8 technology) products. MarketXS has offices in Amsterdam, Brussels and Luxembourg.
For additional information please visit www.marketxs.com
Contact:
For further information, please contact: Markit Group, Teresa Chick,
Director, Corporate Communications, Tel: +44-(0)20-7260-2094, Email:
teresa.chick@markit.com