Archipelago planning to go public
Plus: Aspen Insurance offering to begin trading Thursday
By Steve Gelsi, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 10:44 PM ET Dec. 3, 2003
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Archipelago, a rival electronic stock trading network to the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, is planning its next challenge: an initial public offering.
Chicago-based Archipelago, a competitor to Instinet (INGP: news, chart, profile), said it plans to file an IPO registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission "during the next several months."
With its IPO, Archipelago would become the second major exchange to go public after Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME: news, chart, profile) debuted about a year ago.
Billed as the largest all-electronic stock exchange, Archipelago handled about 29 percent of all over-the-counter trades on Nov. 20.
Its current volume record is 730 million shares, set on June 6. Archipelago has not yet released any revenue or net income statements.
The IPO plan surfaced after Archipelago, which merged with Redibook last year, said on Nov. 13 that General Atlantic Partners took a minority stake in the company for $125 million. Past investors include Instinet, Goldman Sachs, E-Trade, J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch.
The company was formed in 1996 after electronic communications networks were allowed to interact directly with the Nasdaq.Chief Executive Jerry Putnam launched the exchange as a joint venture with software developer Townsend Analytics. |
