The roster of names behind the new NEO Exchange is growing. Private equity firm Vernon & Park Capital announced that is a shareholder of Aequitas Innovations, the parent company of the forthcoming Aequitas NEO Exchange.
Last week, Aequitas NEO Exchanges named its designated market makers.
Aequitas announced the completion of what a press statement called “the significantly oversubscribed pre-launch share offering,” ahead of the March 27, 2015 operations launch of the NEO Exchange.
In addition to Vernon & Park, new shareholders include a veritable Who’s Who of Candian marketplace stars. They include Invesco Canada Ltd., British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, Davis Rea Ltd., Jones Gable & Co Ltd, Maison Placements Canada Inc., and BBS Securities Inc. These new Shareholders join existing shareholders Barclays Corporation Limited, CI Investments, IGM Financial, ITG Canada, BCE, OMERS Capital Markets, PSP Public Markets, and RBC Dominion Securities.
“I am very honored and pleased to be able to welcome such a strong and diversified group of new shareholders,” said Jos Schmitt, president and chief executive officer of Aequitas. “Our shareholders clearly share our vision on how to restore investor confidence, revive public company success and re-energize the role of the dealers. They have laid the foundations of the NEO Exchange, an exchange Canadians can believe in and the industry can be proud of.”
Having significant experience in the exchange sector, Vernon & Park Capital believes the NEO Exchange market model is a significant step forward in the evolution of market structure design.The model recognizes the important contributions of all market participants and creates a fair environment for them to transact in, said Vernon & Park Managing Partner, Jim Ginsburg. The rules guiding NEO are extremely thoughtful and represent a major improvement over existing market structures globally.
“We are pleased to count Vernon & Park among our shareholders, added Schmitt, They are experienced exchange investors and their extensive industry network will bring important value to us as we build the Neo Exchange.
Vernon & Park Capital claims that it “provides capital to its portfolio companies and utilizes its extensive network of industry contacts as a strategic resource to help those companies realize their full economic potential.”
