ION Trading nabs EUR35m in new funding

10-06-2004

by Martin Lynch

ION Trading Group, a financial software maker headquartered in Dublin, has received a EUR35 million cash injection to help it crack new international markets.

Private equity and buyout firm TA Associates invested the funds for a minority stake in ION, developer of MarketView, a software application used to manage trading activities in electronic fixed income markets. The software is a favourite of investment banks worldwide, letting fixed income traders get an integrated view of global electronic, fixed income, derivatives and futures markets.

ION Trading Group, which employs over 110 people across offices in Dublin, London, New York, Tokyo, Madrid and Pisa in Italy, will be using the money to expand and acquire other companies.

"We will be using the money for acquisitions and geographical expansion, particularly in the US," Andrea Pignataro, ION's CEO and founder told ElectricNews.Net. "The US economy is growing faster than the European economy, so their IT spending appetite is higher. Also, this funding is important because this market is consolidating quickly now and we now have the resources to play an important role in this phase. We are looking around for suitable acquisitions now."

Kenneth T. Schiciano, a managing director at TA Associates who will join ION's board of directors, added in a statement: "ION has emerged as one of the leading third-party providers of fixed income trading solutions. Andrea has assembled a talented management team, and under his direction, ION has become a critical and trusted supplier of fixed income trading solutions to the largest fixed income dealers globally." Schiciano said that the company expects to work with ION to accelerate the group's global expansion, both through organic growth and via acquisition of other companies that supply fixed income trading solution components.

According to TA, the fixed income trading environment is fast growing and within that, electronic-based trading has emerged as the dominant method of trading against traditional voice-based systems. The company believes ION is well-placed to increase its share of this marketplace as the migration to electronic-based trading continues.

ION's Pignataro formed ION Trading Group in 1999 while still working as a trader for Solomon Brothers in London. The company employs eight people in its Dublin headquarters who handle finance and marketing, with the bulk of product development taking place in Pisa, Italy.