Markit Group Limited (Markit), the leading industry source of independent data, portfolio valuations and trade processing for the OTC derivative markets, 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 to 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.
“The acquisition of MarketXS creates a powerful combination that will allow Markit to create exciting new products,” says Lance Uggla, CEO of Markit. “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.”
“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,” says Jan De Roeck, CEO of MarketXS, who joins Markit’s executive team. “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.”
“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,” says Charles Longden, Global Head of Credit Trading at ABN AMRO. “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.”
“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,” says Cor Breur, Global Head of Market Data Competence at Fortis.