Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse have taken a minority equity interest in ASP-based risk management and compliance outfit FTEN as the company looks to expand beyond the US.
The company says the Series B Preferred Stock funding will help it extend its global footprint beyond its stronghold in US equities, options and futures markets. Currently, FTEN's technology processes over 20% of the US daily equities volume and risk management calculations.
Ted Myerson, president and founder of FTEN, says the investment is an endorsement of the company's real-time risk management and compliance solutions, broker-neutral high frequency trading gateway and market data delivery platform.
"FTEN is profitable, cash flow positive and debt free," he says. "This investment and the partners behind it allow FTEN to significantly accelerate our global expansion because we are no longer limited by organic growth to finance expansion throughout European and Asian markets. We will increase our investment in infrastructure, product development and staff to help expedite achievement of our long term objectives at the same time other vendors will be cutting back on expenditures during the current economic downturn."
The transaction was managed by San Fransisco-based boutique Financial Technology Partners.