Fixed income trading platform MarketAxess has agreed a $150 million deal to buy electronic US Treasuries marketplace LiquidityEdge.
MarketAxess will pay $100 million in cash and $50 million in stock for LiquidityEdge, which was set up in 2015 to connect a community of dealers, market-makers and institutional investors to trade in the $500 billion average-daily-volume US Treasury market.
Chris Concannon, president and COO, MarketAxess, says: "Through the acquisition of LiquidityEdge, we are bringing rates trading capabilities to MarketAxess to complement our leading position of electronic trading in the global credit markets.
"This will not only enhance the trading experience for our dealer and institutional investor clients, but also offer a truly innovative solution for dealers to stream U.S. Treasury quotes to a tailored audience.”
MarketAxess is also expanding hedging capabilities to include Treasury hedging for MarketAxess’ credit products, tapping LiquidityEdge’s technology infrastructure and liquidity network.
Currently in development and targeted to launch the initial phase in the fourth quarter of 2019, this new functionality will enhance a client’s ability to simultaneously hedge a credit spread transaction within the same workflow, maximizing efficiency and reducing rate movement risk.