Liquidnet, a buy-side crossing network, now has 101 members providing liquidity in Asia-Pacific equities, following its launch in the region last November.
Australian institutional fund manager Challenger Financial Services Group and AXA Rosenberg Investment Management (Japan) became the 100th and 101st members.
“In our first days trading, Liquidnet has demonstrated it can deliver access to real institutional block liquidity in a unique and efficient manner,” said Andrew Fraser, head of trading at Challenger Financial Services Group, in a statement.
Hei Seki, head of trading at AXA Rosenberg Investment Management in Tokyo, added, “We are looking forward to finding many block trading opportunities to help achieve superior results for our fundholders.”
Liquidnet transaction sizes in Asia-Pacific equities for July 2008 averaged US$1.55 million on the Australian Securities Exchange, and US$17,365 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
“The demand from Asia-Pacific investors for a venue to anonymously trade large blocks of stock is very strong,” said David Klinger, managing director of Liquidnet Asia. “Throughout the region, we have helped our members trade more efficiently than they could through traditional methods, resulting in enhanced quality of trade execution and lower overall trading costs.”
Liquidnet started its Asian operations on 29 November last year, trading Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Japan equities. Australian trading commenced on 20 February 2008. Liquidnet began onshore trading of Japanese equities in June this year.