GL TRADE pursues its diversification strategy towards OTC and risk management solutions and strengthens its position in the US with the acquisition of FNX SOLUTIONS

GL TRADE, global provider of front to back office solutions for financial institutions, today announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares in US Company FNX SOLUTIONS, which specialises in the management and processing of OTC products for Capital Markets and Hedge Funds. The deal will be closed in the course of February 2007.

Capital Markets, a new direction for growth

FNX SOLUTIONS, which was founded in 1992, will significantly enhance TRADIX, GL TRADE’s existing Capital Markets offering. FNX SOLUTIONS expects turnover of €11m in 2006, much of which is recurrent, and predicts turnover growth of 25% per year over the next two years. TRADIX currently generates sales of a little over €4.5m.

FNX SOLUTIONS is mainly based in the United States and Japan, but also counts presence in the UK, Thailand, Taipei and Singapore. FNX SOLUTIONS also has a development centre in Belgrade. The company has a wide range of clients including top tier bank, regional banks, retail operations, hedge funds, and Corporates with clients primarily in the US and Asia.

The combined business will generate a Turnover of about €20 M in 2007, which will represent about 10% of the Turnover of the Group. Farid Naib, CEO and founder of FNX SOLUTIONS, is appointed Global Head of the Capital Markets Front to Back Business Line.

Complete Front to Back, Cross Asset Functionality

FNX SOLUTIONS’ product offering consists of four main product lines designed mainly for over the counter (OTC) desks at global and regional banks, hedge funds, prime brokers and private banks. FNX SOLUTIONS offers complete, high volume, front to back cross product solutions (FX, money markets, fixed income, derivatives, commodities, equities and exchange traded products) that calculate positions and manage risks, handle middle and back office processing and reporting down to the general ledger level. FNX SOLUTIONS has recently released a complete margin-trading platform for retail clients and prime brokers. FNX SOLUTIONS is also a leader in ASP deployment of its products.

“FNX SOLUTIONS’ products are used by more than forty clients”, noted Farid Naib, CEO and founder of FNX SOLUTIONS. “Joining GL TRADE will enable us to draw on the business network of one of the leading ISVs, with an excellent presence in continental Europe where FNX SOLUTIONS has not made deep inroads. FNX SOLUTIONS will benefit from GL TRADE’s international coverage, size and reputation which will allow us access to more ambitious client projects.”

“This deal forms part of our strategy to speed up the development of our multi-instrument positioning and reinforce our establishment within the capital markets, as well as for hedge funds and buy side users in general,” added Pierre Gatignol, Chairman and CEO of the GL TRADE Group. “This acquisition will perfectly round out our existing Capital Markets front to back offering, both in terms of functionality and geographically, specifically in the US and Asia, our two regions that are showing strong growth opportunities.”