NYFIX in talks with two firms: CEO
NEW YORK (Reuters) - NYFIX Inc NYFX.O, which provides trading technology and liquidity pools, is in merger talks with two companies, and hopes to have deals in the next two to three months, its chief executive said on Monday.
The deals would be roughly the same size as NYFIX in terms of revenue, Chief Executive Howard Edelstein told the Reuters Exchanges and Trading Summit.
Private equity firm Warburg Pincus WP.UL intends to continue to invest in the sector through NYFIX, he added.
"They are not going to buy ten other companies and do the same thing," Edelstein said.
New York-based NYFIX got a $75 million investment from Warburg Pincus in 2006.
Edelstein, who was an entrepreneur-in-residence with Warburg Pincus, joined the company as CEO at the time of the private equity firm's investment.
NYFIX reported 2007 revenue of $121.7 million, up 24 percent over the previous year.
"'07 was our cleanup year," Edelstein said. "'08, we are turning our focus to growth."
Last month, the company said it had bought U.K.-based FIXCITY, a specialist in Web-based electronic trading and liquidity discovery solutions.
Edelstein also said NYFIX was open to partnering with other exchanges.
"We'd love to partner with exchanges in general," Edelstein said. "Anybody who is interested in having a dark pool or joining their displayed market, we will be interested in partnering with."
Dark pools are off-exchange anonymous trading venues where stock traders can match large orders while concealing details about price and volume.
"We are talking to all the bona fide exchanges in Europe that would have an interest in a dark pool," Edelstein said. "We are looking to both partner and acquire products that will help us meet our client needs."
(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)
(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
