Chi-X Global has confirmed that five firms have acquired minority stakes in the exchange operator and trading technology provider from agency broker Instinet, which remains its majority shareholder.
Speaking at event in Singapore, Chi-X Global CEO Tal Cohen said that broad ownership represented the most suitable model for trading venues. “The consortia-based ownership model is ideal for us, not unlike the mutual models that exchanges used to have. It can be hard for exchanges to run a full for-profit model,” he observed, speaking on a panel at the World Exchanges Congress Asia 2011.
The five new investors are brokers Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and electronic market makers Getco and Quantlab.
Chi-X Global operates alternative trading platforms in Japan and Canada, and is due to launch an equities exchange in competition with the Australian Securities Exchange on 31 October. The firm also operates a joint venture dark pool with the Singapore Exchange which offers trading in leading stocks listed in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. Its Chi-FX joint venture with Brazil’s BM&F Bovespa exchange is scheduled to go live next year.
Instinet, owned by Japan’s Nomura, launched the Chi-X Europe pan-European trading multilateral trading facilty in 2007, and is still the platform’s largest single shareholder ahead of its sale to BATS Global Markets, subject to approval of UK competition authorities.