Atlanta-based online bond trading solutions provider ValuBond has acquired Bond Express, a subsidiary of Barra, in an all-stock deal. Financial terms have not been disclosed.
The Bond Express online fixed income database has 350 trading desks providing 15,000 line items of inventory in a format that allows the bond trader/investor to search for the bond they want and then access the phone number of the offering dealer to call.
In addition, Bond Express has a "private label" product that is used by over 50 firms as a turn-key fixed income investing solution for in-house use by advisors and representatives, and external use by those firms' online brokerage clients.
John Pigott, chief executive officer of ValuBond who will serve as chief executive officer of the combined firm, boasts: "Using the combined trading platform, bond traders will be able to display their inventory for live, anonymous trading to over 300 dealers, 70 percent of the registered investment advisors, and over 25 online brokerages with 40 percent of that market, and two of the top five private banks."
The existing Bond Express product will be enhanced by adding live trading capabilities, content, analytic tools and other advanced features. Additionally, current Bond Express online customers will be able to immediately post their inventory on the ValuBond platform for live execution. Bond Express' private label customers will get access to ValuBond's new issues and content.
Shant Harootunian, president of Bond Express and Bart Daniel, operations manager, will be joining the ValuBond team as executive vice president of sales and marketing and vice president of product development, respectively.