Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has confirmed the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire MarketAxess in its entirety following unanimous approval from the boards of directors of both companies.
Chris Concannon
The agreement stipulates that ICE will acquire all outstanding shares of MarketAxess for $167 per share in cash – an equity value of approximately $6 billion.
The total enterprise value is approximately $5.7 billion.
The transaction is set to allow fixed income traders to access one global fixed income ecosystem in order to benefit from consolidated liquidity, more competitive pricing, lower operating costs, and a materially improved trading experience, said ICE.
“What makes this combination so compelling is the complementary strengths each company brings,” said Chris Concannon, chief executive, MarketAxess.
“MarketAxess contributes a leading fixed-income trading network and deep market expertise, while ICE brings additional retail and wealth trading protocols, strong data, connectivity, and a broader set of product capabilities. Together, we will have the scale to invest more deeply in the areas that matter most to our customers.”
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The move is aimed at creating a “premier fixed income marketplace” to “connect institutional and retail investors through one integrated fixed income ecosystem spanning execution, data, indices, and analytics,” according to the firms.
It has been confirmed that after combining, the company will offer a fully integrated workflow, including: pre-trade price discovery and analytics, multi-protocol electronic execution for both retail and institutional investors, and post-trade data, benchmarking, and compliance tools.
All are set to be available to clients in a single connected platform.
Jeff Sprecher, ICE chair and chief executive, said: “For more than two decades, ICE has pursued a clear and consistent strategy: take the largest, least-efficient corners of global finance and apply technology and network effects to improve transparency.
“That is what we did in energy, in credit default swaps, and in mortgage technology. Acquiring MarketAxess is the natural next step in that journey. Together, we will build the fixed income ecosystem that investors have always deserved – one that is transparent, efficient, fully connected, and accessible to all.”