Silver Lake Partners, the private-equity fund that bought agency broker Instinet LLC late last year, is considering selling the company, a person familiar with the matter confirmed. Silver Lake, which paid $208 million to acquire Instinet, is considering offers from a number of potential buyers, according to the source, who asked not to be identified. That has prompted Silver Lake to weigh whether to sell Instinet, merge it with another company, take the company public or keep it, the source said.
Instinet spokesman Mark Dowd and Silver Lake spokeswoman Elizabeth Hannahan declined to comment.
Silver Lake acquired the agency brokerage part of Instinet as part of a deal last December that also involved Nasdaq, which paid $935 million for Instinet's Inet electronic trading platform, and Bank of New York, which paid $174 million for Instinet's commission-recapture unit Lynch, Jones & Ryan.
Since that deal, Instinet's agency-brokerage business has been growing, this person said, which prompted would-be suitors to make offers for the company.
