MarketAxess Holdings (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for U.S. and European high-grade corporate bonds, emerging markets bonds and other fixed-income securities, today announced the closing of the final tranche of the purchase by Technology Crossover Ventures ("TCV") of a minority stake in MarketAxess, consisting of preferred stock and warrants, for an aggregate purchase price of $35.0 million.
In conjunction with the closing, Bob Trudeau, general partner of TCV, a leading private equity and venture capital firm with expertise in the financial technology space, has been elected to the MarketAxess board.
With the closing of the final tranche and TCV's initial investment previously announced on June 3, 2008, TCV has acquired a total of (i) 35,000 shares of Series B preferred stock, convertible into 3.5 million shares of MarketAxess common stock at a conversion price of $10.00 per share, and (ii) ten-year warrants to purchase an additional 700,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $10.00 per share. With the closing of the final tranche, TCV now owns approximately 9% of MarketAxess' common stock on a fully-diluted basis excluding warrants. The terms of the investment include a seven year standstill, a one year lock-up and an automatic conversion provision.
"MarketAxess represents a unique opportunity to partner with the premier client-to-dealer electronic credit trading platform to help realize the outstanding long-term growth potential of the franchise," commented Mr. Trudeau. "Our focus on companies with superior growth characteristics, strong competitive positions and market leading technologies makes MarketAxess a timely investment for us in the financial technology space."
Mr. Trudeau, 39, is a general partner at TCV, a leading growth equity investor based in Palo Alto, California that is focused on investing in premier later-stage technology companies. Prior to joining TCV, Mr. Trudeau was a Principal at General Atlantic Partners, where he led the firm's financial services practice and was actively involved with investments including Archipelago, Computershare, RiskMetrics, Saxo Bank and BottomLine Technologies. Prior to General Atlantic, Mr. Trudeau was a Managing Director at iFormation Group, a joint venture with General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs and Boston Consulting Group, and was actively involved with the firms' investments in eOne Global and IP Value. Prior to joining iFormation, Mr. Trudeau was a Manager at The Boston Consulting Group, where he focused on the retail and financial services industries.