Marks Baughan Advises TRAFiX on Its Sale to Trading Technologies
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets technology provider, today announced it has acquired TRAFiX LLC, a provider of equities and equity options order and execution management systems (OEMS) and FIX connectivity solutions. Marks Baughan acted as co-advisor to TRAFiX.
The addition of TRAFiX will make TT one of the most comprehensive multi-asset trading platforms in capital markets technology, extending its coverage across every major asset class — from futures, foreign exchange (FX) and fixed income to global equities and equity options — on a single, cloud-native platform.
Terms of the transaction, which closed today, were not disclosed.
This acquisition builds on TT’s long-standing market leadership in futures and options execution and the launch of the firm’s fixed income, FX and cryptocurrency offerings. The integration of TRAFiX’s market-leading OEMS capabilities for global equities and equity options will create a single, end-to-end global multi-asset trading platform offering best-in-class execution management system (EMS) and order management system (OMS) tools; comprehensive FIX and market connectivity; multi-asset risk management, analytics and regulatory reporting; multi-asset trade surveillance and compliance workflows; and multi-asset pre-trade and intra-day margin analytics.
The enhanced TT platform will enable customers to replace fragmented legacy vendor stacks with a modern, cloud-native trading architecture. It will help them unify and simplify risk management with capital efficiency across all asset classes in real time; automate workflows and seamlessly execute innovative cross-asset trading strategies; and expand venue access through a single connectivity layer reaching key liquidity providers worldwide across exchange-traded and over-the-counter (OTC) products.
Justin Llewellyn-Jones, CEO of Trading Technologies, said:
“This acquisition is transformational for TT and represents a significant step forward in our multi-asset evolution. With TRAFiX fully integrated into the TT platform, clients will have access to a single, cloud-native system delivering unparalleled cross-asset trading capabilities. TRAFiX has built an exceptional product and talented team, trusted by more than 200 customers globally, with connectivity to more than 100 trading venues. Together, we are creating something truly differentiated for our customers that will redefine the capital markets landscape.”
Walter Fitzgerald, Co-Founder and CEO of TRAFiX, said:
“Our team is thrilled to bring TRAFiX into the Trading Technologies family, and even more excited about what this means for our customers. We have built a next-generation equities and equity options trading platform that seamlessly unites order and execution management to meet the dynamic demands of today’s global trading desks. Our platform empowers broker-dealers, asset managers and proprietary trading firms with low-latency execution, real-time data visibility and robust compliance tools, all within a single unified workflow. By joining forces with Trading Technologies, we are taking our solution to the next level, combining our cutting-edge equities and options capabilities with TT’s global scale to deliver the ultimate multi-asset trading platform.”
Houlihan Lokey acted as lead financial advisor, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP acted as legal advisor to TRAFiX. Berenson & Company acted as financial advisor, and Goodwin Procter LLP acted as legal advisor to TT.
About Marks Baughan Securities
Marks Baughan provides investment banking services to growth companies. Our clients are software, technology-enabled services and data-intensive companies seeking shareholder liquidity or growth capital. We work tirelessly alongside our clients and excel at defensible positioning and disciplined processes that maximize shareholder value. Our professionals come from senior positions at bulge-bracket firms, giving our clients access to the relationships and experience that come from our years of interaction with the top executives and investors in companies in our fields. Our clients receive top-flight advice throughout any advisory relationship, because our boutique approach allows our senior advisors to stay deeply involved with each client on a continuous basis. No handoffs to junior staff. No preferential client relationships. No conflicts of interest.
For additional information on Marks Baughan, see www.marksbaughan.com.
