Wells Fargo to Acquire Merlin Securities

US mortgage giant Wells Fargo has made an intention to purchase leading Prime Broker Merlin Securities for an undisclosed figure.

Merlin Securities provides hedge funds custody and clearing services on wide range of asset classes including :

• Domestic & International Equities
• Options, including access to the CBOE, PSE, NYSE, PHLX, AMEX, ISE, and BOX
• Fixed Income trading capabilities in a variety of asset classes on an agency basis, including Investment-Grade Corporates, High-Yield Corporates, Government Agencies, U.S. Treasuries, Foreign/Service Debt, and more
• Currencies
• Futures

Merlin Securities is targeting hedge funds that manage under $2 billion in assets.

Wells Fargo has traditionally been focused on non capital market products and the acquisition of Merlin gives it entry into the competitive prime brokerage business.

"With the acquisition of Merlin, we are gaining highly scalable, broker neutral technology with multi-asset and multi-custodian capabilities," said Chris Bartlett, Wells Fargo Securities's head of equity sales and trading. "Merlin's open architecture platform enables clients to choose the custodian and Trading Platform that is right for their business."