"We are excited by the opportunity to be both owners and operators of one of the leading independent institutional brokers in the world", said Mr. Nicoll. "We will focus like a laser on serving the needs of our global customers through a commitment to service, value, transparency, and independence. We intend to build on Instinet's legacy and expertise in institutional trading by offering both sophisticated electronic trading platforms and hands-on trading solutions."
"In an industry where institutional investors struggle with brokers' conflicting models offering opaque, bundled services, Instinet's fully transparent agency model offers a striking and attractive alternative to help meet customer demands for technologically advanced solutions for their trading needs. This is possible because we have no business interests that compete with the trading performance of our clients." said Mr. Nicoll.
Glenn Hutchins, a co-founder and managing member of Silver Lake Partners, said, "We are extremely pleased to have this opportunity to partner with Ed Nicoll and his exceptional leadership team. Instinet has a rich 30-year legacy of bringing leading edge technology solutions to the institutional brokerage arena. We are committed to working closely with Ed and his team as they continue to enhance and extend Instinet's commitment to delivering the mission-critical technologies upon which a growing array of customers in North America and around the globe have come to depend."
"I look forward to continuing to work with Ed and the rest of the senior management team in delivering Instinet's superior products and services to our institutional customers around the world," said Mike Plunkett, President of Instinet, North America.
Instinet has been recognized for its execution quality in large size block trades, small trades, as well as trading in small-cap securities. According to Plexus Group, Instinet ranked No. 1 in "value-added," a measure of execution quality, for all block trades from 10,000 shares to 50,000 shares for the past five consecutive quarters. Similar Plexus Group studies evidenced that Instinet delivered better "value-added" execution quality for its clients' smaller trades, less than 2,000 shares, and ranked No.1 in execution quality for trading small-cap stocks (less than $1 billion).
About Instinet
Instinet, The Institutional Broker, offers institutional customers advanced technology trading tools and sales-trading expertise to interact with global securities markets, improve trading performance and lower overall transaction costs. Through Instinet's electronic platforms, customers can access other U.S. trading venues, including NASDAQ and the NYSE, and almost 30 securities markets throughout the world. Instinet acts solely as an agent for its customers, including institutional investors, such as mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies and hedge funds.
About Silver Lake Partners
Silver Lake Partners is the leading private equity firm focused exclusively on large-scale investing in technology and related growth industries. Silver Lake Partners seeks to achieve superior returns by investing with the strategic insight of an experienced industry participant, the operating skill of a world-class manager, and the financial expertise of a disciplined private equity investor. Specifically, Silver Lake Partners' mission is to function as a value-added partner to the management teams of the world's leading technology franchises. Silver Lake Partners recently announced the $11.3 billion acquisition of SunGard Data Systems, expected to close later this year, in conjunction with several consortium partners. Silver Lake Partners' current portfolio of companies includes technology industry leaders such as Ameritrade, Business Objects, Flextronics, Gartner, Network General, Seagate Technology, Thomson and UGS. For more information: www.silverlake.com
Where to Find Additional Information about Instinet, NASDAQ and the Merger
Instinet Group intends to file a proxy statement of Instinet Group in connection with the proposed merger. Instinet Group stockholders should read the proxy statement and other relevant materials when they become available, because they will contain important information about Instinet Group, NASDAQ and the proposed merger. In addition to the documents described above, Instinet Group and NASDAQ file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. The proxy statement and other relevant materials (when they become available), and any other documents filed with the SEC by Instinet Group or NASDAQ are available without charge at the SEC's website, at www.sec.gov, or from the companies' websites at http://www.instinetgroup.com and http://www.nasdaq.com, respectively.
Instinet Group, NASDAQ and their respective officers and directors may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Instinet Group stockholders in connection with the proposed merger. A description of certain interests of the directors and executive officers of Instinet Group is set forth in the Instinet Group proxy statement for its 2005 annual meeting which was filed with the SEC on April 15, 2005. A description of certain interests of the directors and officers of NASDAQ is set forth in NASDAQ's proxy statement for its 2005 annual meeting, which was filed with the SEC on April 11, 2005. Additional information regarding the interests of such potential participants will be included in the definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents to be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed merger.
This news release may be deemed to include forward-looking statements relating to Instinet Group. Certain important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those disclosed in such forward-looking statements are included in Instinet Group's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, and other documents filed with the SEC and available on the Company's website at www.investor.instinetgroup.com
Instinet, The Institutional Broker, represents Instinet, LLC and its affiliates, not including the direct subsidiaries of Inet Holding Company, Inc. and Lynch, Jones & Ryan, Inc.
(C)2005 Instinet Group Incorporated and its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. INSTINET is a registered service mark in the United States. Instinet, LLC, member NASD/SIPC, branded as Instinet, The Unconflicted Institutional Broker is a subsidiary of Instinet Group Incorporated which is a member of the Reuters family of companies.
SOURCE: Instinet
