SunGard is to acquire New York-based day trading firm Andover Brokerage, for an undisclosed amount.
Andover Brokerage, which was founded in 1993 and has over 30 branch offices around the US, provides direct-access trading, order routing, brokerage and clearing technology.
The deal marks a concerted effort by SunGard to boost its presence in the buy-side trading environment. Under the acquisition, Andover's front-end day trading system Hammertrade will be integrated with SunGard's trading, brokerage and processing systems.
The Hammertrade platform provides users with real-time market data and direct access to SuperMontage, the NYSE and all ECNs. The system can be customised and delivers the same services used by Andover's in-house traders.
SunGard also plans to make some of the Andover components available to users of its back-office accounting systems via the SunGard Transaction Network.