Financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider FactSet has acquired LiquidityBook in an all-cash deal worth $246.5m.
Based in the US, LiquidityBook offers cloud-native buy- and sell-side trading solutions to serves hedge funds, asset and wealth managers, outsourced trading firms, and sell-side middle office clients.
The company operates a proprietary FIX network, enabling connectivity to more than 200 brokers and order routing to over 1,600 destinations across 80 markets worldwide.
LiquidityBook, which was established in 2005, employs around 70 people worldwide and provides a modular platform for managing the full trading lifecycle.
Its cloud-native, multi-tenant platform supports multi-asset class portfolio, order, and execution management, allowing clients to track intraday portfolio holdings, monitor trade orders, ensure regulatory compliance, and manage post-trade reconciliations.
LiquidityBook CEO Kevin Samuel said: “Since inception, LiquidityBook has focused on developing a modular solution on scalable architecture purpose-built to support the most sophisticated multi-asset trading workflows with a distinct advantage over inflexible, refactored legacy systems.”
The acquisition builds on a partnership between FactSet and LiquidityBook, which previously integrated LiquidityBook’s order management system (OMS) into the FactSet Workstation.
The deal is expected to improve FactSet’s front and middle office trade workflows by incorporating LiquidityBook’s order management, pre-trade compliance, and investment book of record (IBOR) solutions.
These capabilities will be integrated with FactSet’s investment research, execution management, performance, reporting, and portfolio analytics offerings.
The acquisition was financed through borrowings under FactSet’s existing revolving credit facility.
FactSet institutional buy side executive vice president and head Rob Robie said: “This acquisition is further evidence of FactSet’s commitment to streamlining workflows across the entire portfolio life cycle to reduce our clients’ total cost of ownership.”
For the transaction, Citi acted as financial adviser to FactSet, with Cravath, Swaine & Moore serving as legal counsel. LiquidityBook was advised by IA Global Capital and legal firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle.
