The Trade Ltd, publisher of The TRADE, The TRADE Asia and www.thetradenews.com, has been purchased by US publishing group Asset International.
“The Trade is an essential building block in our bid to become the foremost provider of information to institutional investors worldwide,” said James Casella, chief executive officer of Asset International. He said The Trade’s portfolio complements Asset International’s existing titles, which includes Global Custodian, PLANSPONSOR, PLANADVISOR and the newly-launched ai5000, which is directed at the 5000 largest pools of capital in the world.
Casella will become chief executive officer of The Trade, while co-founder and publisher John Lee will continue to run the firm’s day-to-day operations. The entire team is expected to remain intact. “John understood early on that electronic trading networks would significantly alter how large institutions invest, and in just six years he has positioned The Trade as the recognised authority in its field,” Casella said.
In addition to publishing under its own brand, The Trade has a number of long-term publishing relationships across the finance sector. For the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), The Trade provides editorial and project management services for SWIFT’s quarterly magazine, Dialogue, and a daily publication distributed to attendees of its annual Sibos conference.
Asset International seeks to expand The Trade’s products and services beyond the firm’s existing publications. Later this year, The Trade plans to introduce a new semi-annual publication centered on emerging growth markets, titled TheTradeGM, and begin development of a conference programme and research capabilities.
“The Trade is the first of a number of global acquisitions planned by Asset International,” commented Casella. “Institutional investors and retirement plans value trustworthy, informed and insightful information, and our goal is to be the media platform that they turn to first and most frequently for every aspect of their professional needs.”
Asset International is a privately-held publisher and information provider to global pension funds, asset managers, financial advisers, banking service providers, and other financial institutions in the private and public sector. The company was acquired in January 2009 by Austin Ventures and has offices in New York, London, and Stamford, Connecticut.