Thomson Reuters is returning to the execution management system (EMS) space through a definitive agreement to acquire REDI Holdings and its flagship EMS that provides broker-neutral, cross-asset trade execution capabilities for the buy-side trading community.
Here at ITT, we flagged the imminent acquisition of REDI by Thomson Reuters back in June and, sure enough, the deal is now in the making, taking Thomson Reuters into a sector where it has been active in the past but with mixed results, and enabling it to offer its clients an alternative to Bloomberg’s widely used EMSX. Financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but it is expected to close by the end of this year.
Thomson Reuters says that by integrating REDI’s trading capabilities into its Eikon desktop and Elektron data and trading propositions, it will be able to provide an integrated platform on which institutional traders can move from pre-trade activities to trade execution.
Michael Chin, managing director, global head of equities, Thomson Reuters, explains: “Integrating REDI into Thomson Reuters solutions will enable us to transform Eikon into a world-class trading solution for the buy-side and further expand the breadth and depth of market data available to them via Elektron. Like Thomson Reuters, REDI has a long commitment to innovation through its open technology platform that integrates third-party data, applications and capabilities, a core tenet of Thomson Reuters own strategy.”
Founded in 1992 by market maker and New York Stock Exchange specialist Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, REDI has a good track record of delivering EMS capabilities to the buy-side. From 2001 to 2013, REDI was owned and operated by Goldman Sachs. In 2013, Goldman Sachs spun out the REDI business into a collaborative, industry-backed consortium including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citadel and investment funds affiliated with Lightyear Capital and Goldman Sachs. Bank of America Merrill Lynch also transferred its InstaQuote EMS to REDI as part of its investment.
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