Datek bids reviewed, no decision
Online broker deal could come next week
By Emily Church, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 12:39 PM ET March 21, 2002
LONDON (CBS.MW) - The major investors in Datek Online are still reviewing the rival bids to buy the online broker, the fourth largest in the U.S. in terms of trading volumes, and a decision could come next week, people close to the situation said on Thursday.
Final bids were due Wednesday. The list of potential bidders for the New Jersey broker, which caters to active, online traders, includes Ameritrade (AMTD: news, chart, profile), TD Waterhouse, owned by Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD: news, chart, profile) and E-Trade (ET: news, chart, profile), one person said.
The Datek sale is expected to net around $1 billion, excluding the some $300 million cash that remains in the firm from a venture capital investment. The deal appears likely to value the firm at around $1,200 an account. At that price, Datek would carry a significantly higher valuation than closest rival Ameritrade.
The market is valuing Ameritrade at $772 an account, E-Trade at $859 and leader Charles Schwab (SCH: news, chart, profile) at $2,385.
Datek's venture capital investors tapped Morgan Stanley (MWD: news, chart, profile) to handle the sale well over a month ago. VC investors include Bain Capital and TA Associates. TheVCs invested $700 million in December 2000 for a 55 percent stake in Datek and a 90 percent stake in Island, an electronic trading platform.
Datek handles between 75,000 and 80,000 trades a day. See earlier reports on Datek sale potential |
