Private equity group JC Flowers is to buy the Australian and Japanese trading platforms of Chi-X Global and its Hong Kong IT unit Chi-Tec. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Chi-X handles about 11% of on-market trades in Australia and less than two percent of equity transactions in Japan, according to data compiled by ASX Ltd. and Bloomberg.
The deal marks the latest in a series of sell-offs by Chi-X's majority shareholder Nomura, following the offloading of the Canadian business to Nasdaq in December and European arm to Bats in 2011.
JC Flowers has been an active investor in the Asia Pacific region for nearly two decades. The firm's current holdings include Shinsei Bank of Japan, Korea's KT Capital Corporation, and Sicom, a provider of financial and advisory services in India.
Thierry Porte, JC Flowers MD, says the firm plans to grow the Chi-X by expanding into new investment products and other Asian Pacific markets.
"The Chi-X businesses have established themselves as successful and innovative alternatives to primary exchanges," he says. "Their superior technology, service and trade execution performance will continue to drive positive change and improve markets where they operate."