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Non-Tech : Ashton Technology (ASTN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mst2000 who wrote (808)	5/7/1999 12:30:00 PM
From: Sir Auric Goldfinger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4443

Looks like TFN LN got the deal:Tradepoint Leaps as Reuters-Led Group Plans to Buy 54% Stake 5/7/99 6:6 (not good for ASTN, AG says sell/sell short right now) London, May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Tradepoint Financial Networks Plc, a U.K. electronic stock-trading system, almost tripled after Reuters Group Plc's Instinet Corp. and a group of securities firms said they plan to buy a majority stake in company. The shares in the three-year-old trading system rose as much as 119 pence, or 190 percent, to 181.5, following the announcement after the close of trade yesterday. Its shares have been suspended since April 9, when it closed at 62.5p, pending the announcement. Tradepoint is currently trading at 149.5, up 87p. The Reuters-led group said it will buy a 54.4 percent stake in the company for 14 million pounds (US$22.4 million). The purchasers are among Wall Street's biggest firms -- Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., J.P. Morgan & Co., mutual-fund giant American Century, and electronic stock-trading network Archipelago LLC., owned in part by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ''It's a good deal for all shareholders,'' said Ronald Cohen, chairman of Apax Partners & Co., which owns 17 percent of Tradepoint. ''The key for all electronic networkers is to achieve critical mass. With Instinet leading such a powerful consortium, ... the critical mass should be achieved.'' Tradepoint handles 160 million shares a month, compared with 1.1 billion shares daily on the rival London Stock Exchange, giving it one percent of the market. The company, which announced a pretax loss of 5.64 million pounds for the nine month ending Dec. 1998, said it would need to boost its market share to two percent to break even. London-based Reuters is trying to develop a global electronic-trading network.