Tradeweb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Nasdaq’s U.S. fixed income electronic trading platform. Formerly known as eSpeed, the fully executable central limit order book (CLOB) for on-the-run U.S. Treasuries is now part of Tradeweb’s Dealerweb unit serving the wholesale U.S. Treasury market. The acquisition was first announced February 2, 2021.
Tradeweb CEO and co-founder Lee Olesky (Photo: Business Wire)
The total purchase price was $190 million, and was funded using cash on hand. The acquisition is immediately accretive to adjusted earnings. Tradeweb expects the acquisition will reach its corporate EBITDA margins exiting year one of a two-year integration period.
Tradeweb CEO Lee Olesky commented: “This acquisition reflects Tradeweb’s commitment to expanding our offering with platforms that deliver the choice and flexibility our clients demand. Looking ahead, we will continue to evaluate targeted investment opportunities that enable us to meet the needs of our clients, foster innovation and drive further value creation for our shareholders.”
The addition of this fully-electronic CLOB gives Dealerweb clients the flexibility to trade on-the-run U.S. Treasuries using either the CLOB or Dealerweb’s directed streams protocol. Both protocols will be operated on the same architecture once the integration is complete, leveraging the same API and offering a more flexible, efficient approach to trading in the wholesale U.S. Treasury market.
Tradeweb President Billy Hult added: “The U.S. Treasury market is where the world comes to invest and hedge each day, so Tradeweb’s comprehensive offering will also provide a real benefit for clients trading credit, ETFs, mortgages and other asset classes. In addition, and with this acquisition now finalized, we can continue to focus on expanding the number of wholesale U.S. Treasury market participants on our platform and driving further growth on Dealerweb.”
With the closing of the transaction, Tradeweb now facilitates trading in U.S. Treasuries through directed streams, CLOB, request-for-quote (RFQ), sessions-based trading, automated trading, list trading and click-to-trade to clients in the institutional, wholesale and retail sectors. In the first quarter of 2021, Tradeweb facilitated trading for an average of $115 billion notional per day in U.S. Treasuries.
Centerview Partners LLC acted as financial advisor to Tradeweb and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP acted as legal advisor.
