Interdealer broker ICAP (formerly Garban-Intercapital) is taking complete control of its spot foreign exchange (FX) joint ventures by acquiring, from Prebon Yamane, the 52% it does not already own.
The joint ventures, created in April 2000, operate in London and New York. The consideration will be £6.17 million in cash.
Michael Spencer, group chief executive of ICAP says: "The joint venture is very profitable and demonstrates that the spot FX market still has room for a strong voice broker. We have sufficient liquidity to provide banks with an attractive alternative to automated systems for spot FX trading."
The only operational change will be to move Harlow Prebon, the New York business, into ICAP's offices in the World Trade Center, he says.
In a separate initiative, ICAP's Electronic Broking division is implementing an interface between its Electronic Trading Community Platform (ETC) and SunGard's eTX network. The combination will enable SunGard eTX users to react to real-time trading opportunities over the ICAP platform.
"Our technology and expertise, combined with Garban-Intercapital's access to liquidity, will add significant value for our treasury system clients," says Gary Bishop, president, SunGard Treasury Systems. "eTX will enable Garban's client banks to increase trading volumes and service opportunities with SunGard Treasury Systems' clients via straight-through processing."