LMAX Group has agreed to acquire the FX business of Cürex, a New York City‐based institutional foreign exchange execution services and data analytics company.
The transaction is expected to close within a month, subject to customary closing conditions.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The combination of LMAX Group and Cürex brings together the distribution scale and technical capabilities of both businesses to create a stronger, more diversified, firm liquidity, institutional FX offering for clients to include execution venues, precise market data and trade analytics.
David Mercer, CEO, LMAX Group, said: “Cürex and LMAX Group share a common ethos of delivering transparent price discovery and efficient market structure through firm liquidity and no ‘Last Look’ execution.”
“We are constantly exploring ways to expand our product offering and diversify distribution for the institutional segment. We believe that through this acquisition, our combined client base will benefit from a more diversified array of FX solutions as we continue to invest in our technology, people and product development,” he added.
The acquisition is part of LMAX Group’s international growth strategy, consolidating its industry position as it continues to build the leading institutional FX exchange.
Established in 2009, Cürex’s ECN product portfolio includes a firm pricing spot FX central limit order book supporting bank algo platforms; a peer-to-peer matching pool and a pre-trade and post‐trade analytics platform that includes real‐time data analysis.
Cürex’s bank and buy-side relationships are complementary to the existing institutional client base of LMAX Group’s FX business which counts the top 40 global banks and all non-banks as its clients.
Through this acquisition, LMAX Group will accelerate its growth in the US, strengthening its technical capabilities and customer and liquidity relationships in a core market.
For Cürex, the transaction provides the scale and technical expertise for continued growth, along with a foothold to enter Asia and expand its liquidity pools through LMAX Group’s established operations and connectivity via its matching engines in Singapore and Tokyo.
James Singleton, CEO of Cürex, said: “LMAX Group is the right business to take Cürex into the next stage of its evolution and start a new phase of growth. After more than a decade of building Cürex, I will be leaving the business, following completion of the acquisition. It has been a privilege to serve in this role and I have no doubt that the combined organisations can achieve great success together under the leadership of LMAX Group.”
