Penserra Securities and the LeveL ATS are pleased to announce an agreement that allows Penserra, a New York-based agency broker for institutional investors, to provide its clients with direct access to LeveL’s non-displayed crossing system.
The arrangement gives Penserra clients, which include several large U.S. pension systems, flexibility to source liquidity directly in LeveL if they so choose, or to continue relying on the firm’s accomplished, trusted single-stock and portfolio trading desks to reach LeveL and other venues. Because Penserra is a government-certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), the deal also provides a convenient way for institutions to fulfill their MBE targets without foregoing direct-access options.
LeveL, based in Boston, was founded in late 2006 by eBX LLC, a joint venture of five industry leaders. LeveL was created as a need was seen for a new trading environment in a post-Regulation NMS world. Its volumes have grown rapidly, reaching 82 million shares per day for the month of August, and hitting a record 170 million shares on September 17.
“LeveL is one of the market’s biggest non-displayed pools of liquidity, so we’re very excited that our clients now have the ability to access it directly,” said George Madrigal, managing director and co-founder of Penserra, and a 13-year veteran of Barclays Global Investors, where he served as a portfolio manager and head of transition management.
“We are very pleased to have Penserra and their clients as participants in LeveL ATS,” said Whit Conary, President of LeveL. “We are committed to delivering a large and diversified pool of liquidity in a stable and cost effective environment. The addition of Penserra helps us achieve these goals.”