Virtu Completes $1bln Acquisition of Investment Technology Group

High-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial announced the completion of its acquisition of Investment Technology Group (ITG) this Friday.

News of the deal was officially released in November of last year.

“Over the past four months, the dedicated leadership teams of both firms have developed a detailed integration plan," said Virtu CEO Douglas Cifu.

"In the coming days we will begin to execute that plan to bring Virtu’s leading technology, Risk Management Risk Management One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, Read this Term and operational efficiency to ITG’s array of agency solutions to better serve a global client franchise."

As was originally stated back in November, Virtu will be paying approximately $1 billion for ITG - equivalent to approximately $30.30 per share.

"ITG has a long history of providing clients with superior service and value-added products," continued Cifu. "We look forward to creating the premier technology-enabled market making and Execution Execution Execution is the process during which a client submits an order to the brokerage, which consequently executes it resulting in an open position in a given asset. The execution of the order occurs only when it is filled. There is typically a time delay between the placement of the order and the execution which is called latency.In the retail FX space, reliable brokers always strive to deliver best execution to their clients in order to maintain a solid business relationship with them. This is a co Execution is the process during which a client submits an order to the brokerage, which consequently executes it resulting in an open position in a given asset. The execution of the order occurs only when it is filled. There is typically a time delay between the placement of the order and the execution which is called latency.In the retail FX space, reliable brokers always strive to deliver best execution to their clients in order to maintain a solid business relationship with them. This is a co Read this Term services franchise.”

Second M&A in two years

Now that the deal has been completed, Virtu will be launching a "Client Information Security Program."

For those unfamiliar with such programs, its corp-speak for a company providing information to their clients on what their information security policies are or will be.

Virtu said that it would be taking input from its clients to determine what the best standards will be for the company when it comes to information security.

The completion of the ITG deal marks the second large-scale acquisition that Virtu has undertaken in less than two years.

In early 2017, Virtu bought fellow high-frequency trading firm KCG Holdings for approximately $1.3 billion.

That deal saw Virtu grow into the agency execution business and expanding its existing market making activities.