BGC Partners, a leading global full-service inter-dealer broker of financial instruments, and eSpeed, Inc., a leader in developing and deploying electronic marketplaces and related trading technology for the global capital markets, today announced that eSpeed and BGC Partners have completed their merger.
The Combined Company is now named "BGC Partners, Inc."
Key Facts About BGC Partners, Inc.:
- The merger creates a company with a market capitalization of approximately $2.2 billion that will trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "BGCP" as of the opening of market tomorrow.*
- The Combined Company had pro forma 2007 annual revenue of approximately $1,117 million, which is an increase of 31 percent from approximately $855 million in 2006.
- The Combined Company has approximately 1,200 brokers and over 2,000 employees in 14 cities globally.
- The Combined Company's fully electronic and hybrid platform had notional volume of approximately $121 trillion in 2007, up 24% from approximately $98 trillion in 2006.
- The corporate headquarters of BGC Partners, Inc. will be at 499 Park Avenue in New York, NY, while its international headquarters will remain at One Churchill Place in London, UK.
"We believe that this combination will be immediately accretive to stockholders," said Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of BGC Partners, Inc. "We fully expect BGC Partners to generate further stockholder value as the Combined Company continues to grow revenues, expand profit margins, and build upon its position as a market innovator and leader."
"We are extremely proud of the tremendous growth that BGC's partners and employees have achieved since its inception in October 2004," added Lee M. Amaitis, Co-Chief Executive Officer of BGC Partners, Inc. "We believe that the combination of approximately 1,200 world-class brokers, our unique partnership structure, employee ownership of almost one third of the Combined Company**, the innovative suite of information and analytics products from BGCantor Market Data, and eSpeed's industry-leading technology will enable us to realize our strategy of having superior product development and client service while giving brokerage customers the choice of voice or electronic execution."
Issuance of New SharesUnder the terms of the merger agreement, an aggregate of 133,860,000 shares of eSpeed's common stock and rights to acquire shares of eSpeed's common stock were issued. The Combined Company had a fully diluted share count of approximately 188 million shares upon the closing of the merger.
* Based on final closing price of eSpeed, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESPD) of $11.75 a share on April 1, 2008 as well as the Combined Company's projected fully diluted share count of approximately 188 million as of the close of the merger and as noted in eSpeed's 4Q2007 earnings release dated February 27, 2008.
**Please see the "Ownership Structure" sub section beginning on page 259 of eSpeed's definitive merger proxy filed with SEC and dated February 11, 2008 for a detailed discussion of employee and partner ownership.