TSE AND OPTIMARK AGREE TO JOINT VENTURE TO CREATE CALL MARKET
FYI - I just received this release this morning.
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) and OptiMark Technologies, Inc.
today confirmed that they have reached an agreement in principle
to establish a new company which will operate a call market
business for the Canadian marketplace. The call market will be
a facility of the TSE, integrated with the Exchange's existing
equities market.
"The OptiMark™ System will enhance the liquidity and
competitiveness of the TSE for all market participants,
particularly brokers and institutional investors who have
expressed the need for greater pre-trade anonymity", said
Rowland Fleming, President and Chief Executive Officer of the
TSE. "This agreement is consistent with other alliances we are
pursuing with world-class industry specialists in order to
deliver best value for TSE customers. The initiative is also an
important element of the new strategic direction for the Exchange
endorsed by the Board of Governors."
The new company will have the exclusive license to implement
OptiMark's technology for Canadian equities in Canada. It will
fund and manage the implementation of the OptiMark System in
Canada, working with the trading community to ensure that it is
commercially competitive.
The OptiMark call market offers a new trading mechanism for
listed equities that will operate as a facility of the TSE and
will complement and enhance the existing public auction market.
The OptiMark System uses patented trading technology, which has
a number of unique features including full expression of trading
interest, complete confidentiality, and optimal price discovery.
"The TSE is a globally respected market and Canada's premier
stock exchange", said Phillip Riese, CEO of OptiMark. "TSE
dealers, investors and issuers will all benefit from the
increased liquidity, reduced market impact costs, and improved
execution prices which the OptiMark call market is designed to
create."
The fully automated Toronto Stock Exchange consistently ranks as
one of the world's top exchanges and is Canada's premier market
for equities and equities-based derivatives, accounting for
approximately 89% of all equity trading in Canada. In 1998, more
than 26 billion shares traded, worth more than $490 billion -
about $2 billion a day in share transactions. With a proud
147-year history at the heart of the Canadian economy, the TSE
continues to provide Canadian and international investors with a
well-regulated, fair and accessible marketplace.
OptiMark Technologies, Inc., a privately-held transaction
services company, offers a leading edge securities matching
facility that increases the efficiency and lowers the cost of
trading. The OptiMark System's patented design offers traders a
unique, safe way to express their full trading interests without
paying the typical market impact costs. OptiMark is headquartered
in Jersey City, New Jersey, and has offices in the U.S. and
Canada, including in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Durango, Los
Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto. Additional information on the
company is available on the World Wide Web at
optimark.com.
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Steve Kee
Manager, Media Services
Marketing and Communications
The Toronto Stock Exchange - tse.com
416.947.4682 -- office #
416.574.7500 -- cellular #
416.375.8856 -- page #
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