Agency brokerage and financial technology provider ITG has acquired US equity research company Majestic Research Corporation.
Majestic, which will be renamed ITG Investment Research, supplies institutional investors with research based on proprietary data sources, covering 200 companies across 17 different industries. The firm also provides macroeconomic and bespoke research reports and has a client base of around 200 in the US and Europe.
“This acquisition marries the market leader in global agency execution with an emerging force in the business of providing asset managers with investment ideas that generate excess returns,” said Bob Gasser, CEO and president of ITG. “Majestic is independent, unbiased and focused on partnering with clients to improve investment performance.”
“Given ITG's focus on leveraging technology and data to drive products, it would be difficult to conceive of an execution platform more well-aligned with our unique research methodology,” added Tony Berkman, co-founder and CEO of Majestic Research.
The purchase price for Majestic was $56 million, consisting of $53 million in cash and $3 million in converted employee equity awards.
ITG said the acquisition would be accretive to earnings at the start of Q1 2011.