Instinet in Deal to Acquire ProTrader
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Instinet Group Inc., one of the world's largest electronic securities trading firms, said on Friday it entered into a deal to acquire ProTrader Group LLC, a provider of trading technologies and electronic brokerage services, for $150 million.
``We believe that this acquisition, if completed, would enhance our customer interface and order-routing technology and advance our strategy of developing our services for individual investors,'' Instinet said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites).
It entered into the non-binding deal on Thursday, and said it was subject to a definitive agreement, regulatory approvals and other conditions. ProTrader mainly caters to active non-institutional traders, according to the filing.
Instinet said it may pay $100 million of the $150 million purchase cost using newly issued shares of its common stock.
The New York City-based company, a unit of the British news and information provider Reuters Group Plc(RTR.L)(NasdaqNM:RTRSY - news), is in the process of going public, offering 29.5 million common shares for a price estimated to range from $11.50 to $13.50 apiece.
When the IPO is completed, Reuters will continue to own about 87.5 percent of the company.
Reuters shares gained 31 cents to $86.40 in afternoon trading on Nasdaq. |
