In a bid to bolster available services for their electronic Trading Platform , ICAP has announced that their EBS BrokerTec division is acquiring Molten Markets. A provider of FX services such as transaction cost analysis and execution management for asset managers and pension funds, Molten Markets will provide EBS with additional services to market to their customers.
According to ICAP, they believe the addition of Molten Markets will provide value to both their Liquidity providers which distribute pricing on the electronic platforms and to buy-side customers. In addition, it provides EBS BrokerTec with greater inroads into supporting asset managers, a segment that hasn’t previously been a large part of their customer base.
The deal can be considered the first major announcement involving an external party since ICAP reorganized their electronic platforms by uniting their FX system, EBS, and BrokerTec treasury trading platform into one division- EBS BrokerTec.
As part of the deal, Simon Wilson-Taylor, President and CEO of Molten Markets, takes on the new role of Head of EBS Institutional FX. Wilson-Taylor’s previous experience included stints at UBS, State Street, and UBS. In the firm’s public statement, Wilson-Taylor commented: “We are delighted to be joining EBS BrokerTec and look forward to working together to improve and extend our customer offering.”
Also commenting were Gil Mandelzis, CEO or EBS BrokerTec, and Justyn Trenner, their Global Head of Strategy. Both related the importance of Molten Markets to help them reach a new customer base. Mandelzis stated that operational activity at EBS has helped increase their customer base to include “regional banks, hedge funds, the buy-side and corporates, in addition to our traditional global bank and proprietary trading audience.” He added: “Today, we are delighted to extend the EBS BrokerTec offering to a large institutional customer segment that we were not yet serving: asset managers”.
Trenner said: “This acquisition will allow us to address a clear and unmet need expressed to us by real money managers – to achieve demonstrable best execution from a single platform that also addresses the unique workflow challenges they face.”
Financial terms of the deal have not yet been provided by either party.
