Jefferies & Co In Chicago Options Trading Joint Venture With PEAK6

Jefferies has set up a new broker dealer with PEAK6 Investments. Called Jefferies Options Execution LLC (JOE), the new firm will provide institutional clients equity options trading services. The main focus will be on the mid cap companies Jefferies's trading,

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Jefferies has set up a new broker dealer with PEAK6 Investments. Called Jefferies Options Execution LLC (JOE), the new firm will provide institutional clients equity options trading services. The main focus will be on the mid-cap companies Jefferies’s trading, research and investment banking effort already focus on. The sales force is being expanded.

“Jefferies’s partnership with PEAK6 is the latest step in our continued expansion of products to better serve our institutional client base,” says Richard B. Handler, Chairman and CEO of Jefferies. “We expect continued growth in the demand for options trading, and our investment in JOE reflects our commitment to enhance our existing options business to better serve our customers.”

“We are very excited to leverage our expertise in options technology and execution to Jefferies’ leading network of institutional investors,” adds Matt Hulsizer, CEO of PEAK6. “Jefferies’ relationships, combined with the options products of PEAK6, make a strong partnership.”

Owned equally by Jefferies and PEAK6, JOE will be based in Chicago and will begin operations as a member of the CBOE on 7 February 2005. JOE’s Board of Managers consists of Tony Sanfilippo, Executive Vice President and Head of U.S. Equity Trading at Jefferies, and Matt Hulsizer from PEAK6.

PEAK6, founded in Chicago in 1997, is an options market maker.

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