About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Orc Sets Out Technology Integration Plans After Taking Ownership of Tbricks

Subscribe to our newsletter

Orc plans to integrate Tbricks’ technology, customers and employees into its derivatives trading technology business following an agreement by its owner Cidron Delfi Intressenter Holding, a company controlled by Nordic Capital, to acquire 100% of the shares in Tbricks. No financial details of the deal were disclosed, but it includes the transfer of ownership of Tbricks to Orc and is expected to close on January 15, 2015.

Orc, under the auspices of its private equity owner, had been looking for opportunities to acquire for three years, but found no good matches before starting to talk to Tbricks last year. Tbricks was co-founded in 2006 by Jonas Hansbo, CEO, and Joakim Hassila, chief technology officer, both of whom were former Orc executives. The company provides next-generation trading technology including a fast core platform and trading apps to market makers, proprietary traders and banks.

Torben Munch, CEO of Orc Group, says: “I anticipate the acquisition will significantly strengthen Orc’s offering in the trading domain. Jonas Hansbo and his team have conceptualised and launched a strong, flexible trading platform designed for the requirements of tomorrow. The Tbricks team constitutes some of the most skilled, passionate and experienced technologists in trading and the addition of them to our team will greatly enhance our competitiveness.”

Hansbo adds: “This is good news for Tbricks. It gives us the opportunity to take what we have done to a much larger audience. With the merger, the advanced software from Tbricks will be married with Orc’s strong ownership and global distribution capacity to create another breakthrough, leapfrogging existing platforms. We remain committed to our clients and are confident the combination will benefit them greatly.”

Munch describes Tbricks’ trading technology architecture as ‘very appealing’ and says Orc plans to integrate the Tbricks platform with the Orc Trader and Orc Liquidator platforms over the next few months. The aim is to deliver one software stack for all clients. Support will continue to be provided for the Orc platforms, although Orc trading customers are expected to welcome the opportunity to migrate to the more modern Tbricks platform. Tbricks customers will remain on the platform and will gain opportunities presented by Orc’s functionality including execution and direct market access to over 150 global trading venues.

Munch comments: “This is a good acquisition, we can deliver more to all our clients. The acquisition also provides the capacity to extend beyond derivatives trading and into other asset classes such as cash equities and foreign exchange instruments further down the line.”

The acquisition adds 40 Tbricks clients in Europe and North America to Orc’s roster of 170 clients worldwide. It also adds all 70 Tbricks staff, including Hansbo and a software development team in St Petersburg, Russia, to Orc’s headcount of 220 employees. The management structure of the enlarged company will be detailed later this week, but it is expected that Hansbo will have a central role with responsibility for all of Orc’s products. A dispute some years ago between Orc and Hansbo over the setting up of Tbricks was settled before Nordic Capital acquired Orc in January 2012 and will have no effect on the acquisition and integration of Tbricks.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: High-Performance Networks & Low-Latency Connectivity for Trading

10 June 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes With financial markets becoming more complex and interconnected in today’s electronic trading environment, trading firms, exchanges, and infrastructure providers need to continually push the boundaries of network performance to stay ahead. Ultra-low latency, seamless connectivity, and resilient infrastructure are no longer...

BLOG

A (Free) Practical AI Handbook for Capital Markets Professionals

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has swiftly transitioned from a promising concept into an operational reality across the capital markets. Senior executives, compliance leaders, and technology specialists are already well-acquainted with the potential of AI to streamline processes, enhance decision-making, and open new competitive opportunities. Yet, the current challenge isn’t about grasping AI’s transformative potential – it’s...

EVENT

RegTech Summit New York

Now in its 9th year, the RegTech Summit in New York will bring together the RegTech ecosystem to explore how the North American capital markets financial industry can leverage technology to drive innovation, cut costs and support regulatory change.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...