Mahogany Partners, LLC ("Mahogany Partners'), a consortium of mid-tier broker dealers announced today that it is live with its first block trading destination, the BlockCross ATS.
Mahogany Partners was founded in 2008 by a team of veteran market structure experts and technologists and is backed by a consortium of sell-side firms dedicated to facilitating access to natural block liquidity venues and innovative block trading technology and strategic alliances. The firm has assembled a consortium of select independent brokerage firms and has successfully coordinated access to its initial destination.
BlockCross is an independently owned and operated ATS designed to provide significant liquidity opportunities via multiple crossing methods. BlockCross leverages access to buy-side order management systems and integrates buy-side, sell-side and dark algo liquidity to provide the broadest spectrum of block liquidity in the industry.
"Mahogany Partners was instrumental in facilitating the order flow of top-shelf independent broker-dealer firms to the BlockCross ATS" according to Wally Sullivan, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of the BlockCross ATS.
In the four month period ending July 2009, eight of Mahogany Partners' participant firms successfully connected to the BlockCross ATS and several more are pending. All transactions are completed with a minimum of 5,000 share executions and crossed at the mid-point to the National Best Bid or Offer ("NBBO"), resulting in substantial price improvement savings.
"The independent floor broker firms have limited resources to develop and manage the technology to interact with the buy-sell alternative trading systems. Mahogany Partners not only brought us together as a consortium to pool our resources, but also provided the expertise to define the requirements for our specific block trading and negotiation requirements" said Barry Larkin, Head of Trading at Kabrik Trading, LLC.
Requirements for future system enhancements and software releases are planned, prioritized and developed via feedback and recommendations from our Industry Advisory Board of veteran floor brokers and traders.
"Mahogany Partners has provided us with tools and access to a liquidity pool that we were unable to tap in the past. They meet with us often, listen to our issues and produce real results." according to Vincent Farina, Chairman and CEO, Farina and Associates.
Mahogany Partners is in the process of recruiting additional participant firms and anticipates substantial growth in its membership later this year.