JP Morgan is to buy privately-held trading technology firm Neovest for an undisclosed sum.Neovest is a provider of equity direct market access and routing systems to buy-side professionals. The firm recently added support for electronic execution of options, futures and forex.
The deal was led by private equity firm Conning Capital Partners, which invested $5 million in Neovest's first institutional round in September 2001. CCP has since invested a further $4 million and brought in co-investor Total Technology Ventures.
Under the agreement, Neovest will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of JPMorgan and retain its offices in Utah, Atlanta and New York offices.
Carlos Hernandez, managing director and head of origination and distribution for the Americas at JPMorgan, says: "JPMorgan's existing trading suite, which includes highly developed algorithms and analytics, combined with Neovest's direct market access and advanced routing system will provide our clients with a comprehensive trading platform that is unmatched."
JP Morgan's move follows similar deals struck by big US investment houses looking to beef up their order-routing and algorithmic trading capabilities. In March last year, Bank of New York acquired direct market access firm Sonic Financial Technologies, while in June 04 Citigroup acquired New York-based Lava Trading.
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