Market data vendor Markit Group has acquired MarketXS Holding, a Dutch provider of data distribution and trading technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Amsterdam-based MarketXS delivers integrated market data and trading systems to over 400 customers in more than 30 countries. The company's hosted market data and order routing platform, Finance Engine, has capabilities in the areas of pre-trade price transparency, analytics, trading, and post-trade reporting.
Markit says its merger with MarketXS will provide clients with an enhanced ability to monitor the global financial markets in real-time. The combination will also address the requirements of the European Union's forthcoming Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) by enabling clients to publish and distribute proprietary and public prices and trade information across all asset classes.
Commenting on the acquisition, Jan De Roeck, CEO of MarketXS, who joins Markit's executive team, says: "The marriage of MarketXS technology with Markit's unique data franchise will be of tremendous benefit to our clients who will gain access to a superior product offering, supported by a global pool of resources.
"Traders, institutional investors and operations professionals will be able to access the highest quality market data in the format that suits them best - be it terminal, portal, secure messaging, data feed or API."
Lance Uggla, CEO of Markit, says MarketXS's technology complements Markit's proprietary data to deliver pricing and valuations across all asset classes.
"The strong synergy between the two companies allows us to meet the increasing demand for real-time information and to address the data requirements relating to MiFID," adds Uggla.
The merged company will be known as Markit Group and will have over 300 employees with offices in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Chicago, Luxembourg, New York, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto and White Plains.
The deal follows Markit's acquisition of Communicator, a New York-based provider of automated systems for OTC derivatives trade processing, in May this year, and last week's takeover of risk modelling firm Chasen.