Investment Technology Group agreed to acquire the remaining 50% of its POSIT joint venture with Morgan Stanley Capital International, confirmed ITG spokeswoman Liz Sendewicz. ITG will pay $90 million plus 1.25% of the revenues from POSIT over the next 10 years to MSCI. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.
"This is a strategic acquisition for ITG and will result in significant savings from decreased royalty payments, which will increase shareholder value," Ray Killian, ITG chairman, president and CEO, said in a news release. "Moving forward, we now have the ability to be more aggressive when pursuing new business and growth opportunities." Patrick Linehan, a Morgan Stanley spokesman, declined to comment.
The POSIT joint venture was formed in 1986. POSIT, an acronym for Portfolio System for Institutional Trading, went live in October 1987. It is a crossing system that matches institutional buyers and sellers anonymously.
