Dear BATS Customers and Members of the European and Global Trading Communities,
Last Friday, BATS Global Markets announced a definitive agreement to acquire Chi-X Europe. We are extremely excited about a BATS Europe / Chi-X Europe combination for many reasons, including our shared history of promoting innovation, transparency and competition in the European market.
Subject to regulatory approvals, we anticipate closing this acquisition within the next few months. In the meantime, we are beginning to develop our plans related to technology, products, infrastructure and operations and will provide additional insights into our plans and objectives for European participants in the coming weeks. We will approach the integration of these two fast-growing businesses just as we tackle everything at BATS – with a focus on getting the job done quickly, efficiently, and with the needs of our customers in mind. The teams at BATS Europe and Chi-X Europe are both world-class, and the combination of our like-minded firms will ensure this transition moves forward according to plan.
While BATS Europe and Chi-X Europe have always maintained a competitive relationship with each other, we have often shared a common vision, along with other market operators, in the pursuit of improvements to market structure for the benefit of our many common customers. Some of those improvements over the last three years have included harmonization of tick sizes, creation of uniform symbology, and steps towards clearing interoperability.
BATS Global Markets and Chi-X Europe have both seen tremendous growth over the last few years and bringing these two organizations together will leverage our combined momentum to further increase competition and accelerate our growth plans not only in Europe, but globally as well.
While some may wonder if this combination is just one of the many mega-deals that have recently been announced in the press, we see it as uniquely different. Our competitors appear to think that bigger is better. We would argue that better is better. We aren’t two giant companies simply getting bigger. We are two laser-focused, nimble, aggressive, and innovative firms coming together, and we will maintain the same focused, nimble, aggressive, and innovative attitude after the deal is closed.
Our integration in Europe will commence immediately after deal closing and is expected to take just a few months. Throughout the integration and after the dust has settled, we will still be focused and nimble enough to actually listen to you, our customer. And not only will we listen, but we will also continue to deliver the new services, order types, and technology that you need ... at the same “BATS Speed” you have come to expect.
In the near term, expect frequent communication from the team in Europe to ease the transition. We know you have a choice when directing your trading activity in European cash equities. As has always been the case, we know that we must work hard to earn your business, and we look forward to continuing the trend of earning both your business and your trust.
We look forward to the many possibilities ahead and, of course, we remain thankful to our investors, vendors and participants for their ongoing support.
Sincerely,
Joe Ratterman
Chairman, President and CEO
BATS Global Markets
Making Markets Better