Under the terms of the agreement, ConvergEx will develop a suite of electronic trading products to enhance the consortium members' block trading capabilities. For the first component, ConvergEx will build advanced blotter polling tools that will give Mahogany's members a powerful way to access external block liquidity as well as electronically cross block trades among themselves. This represents the first time anonymous blotter polling functionality has been made available to NYSE independent floor brokers. The blotter polling functionality, along with each additional tool ConvergEx builds for Mahogany, will all be accessible through an aggregated user interface.

"Using a combination of ConvergEx's proprietary technologies and expertise, we are able to offer the Mahogany consortium innovative ways to incorporate state-of-the-art technology into their businesses and daily work flow," said Andrew Levine, managing director at ConvergEx. "We look forward to building additional solutions to help the Mahogany consortium realize substantial block and liquidity opportunities."

"Mahogany was formed for this very purpose of finding creative ways to produce sophisticated approaches to facilitate block trading and enhance trading performance," said Gregory Johnston, chief executive officer of Mahogany. "Contracting with a best-of-breed technology provider like ConvergEx gives us a significant edge addressing today's complex market structure. ConvergEx's deep experience and proven track record of implementing intricate trading systems made them a natural selection to build these technologies for us."