Alliances, Mergers & Acquisitions
If M&A picks up, who’s on the auction block?
Waters Wrap: With projections that mergers and acquisitions are geared to pick back up in 2025, Anthony reads the tea leaves of 25 of this year’s deals to predict which vendors might be most valuable.
BlackRock to integrate Aladdin and Preqin to create new private markets platform
CEO Larry Fink calls combining the two platforms “maybe the biggest opportunity in 10 years.”
BlackRock-Preqin: It’s the data, Cupid!
As BlackRock buys Preqin, and LSEG strikes a data deal with Dow Jones, Max notes that in data, strange bedfellows breed valuable offspring.
Waters Wavelength Podcast: S&P’s CTO on AI, data, and the future of datacenters
Frank Tarsillo, CTO at S&P Global Market Intelligence, joins the podcast to discuss the firm’s approach to AI, the importance of data, and what might be in store for datacenters in the coming years.
MSCI counts the cost of bank M&A, looks ahead to custom indexes, AI
Cancellations of overlapping contracts following a bank merger put a dent in MSCI’s earnings, but management remains upbeat about the potential of recent acquisitions and new technology developments.
LSEG to sunset Redi EMS in favor of Tora
Sources say competitors will look to seize on the decision to win over Redi’s sizeable US client base.
S&P completes ‘operational integration’ of IHS Markit, ups focus on genAI, new regtech tool
With the IHS Markit merger now behind it, S&P Global is set to release RegGPT and other AI-enabled products.
Waters Wrap: A glimpse of 2024 through the looking glass of 2023
Anthony examines some of the biggest stories from the past year to preview what might be ahead.
Alliances and experiments: Trading firms get innovative in 2023
Rebecca offers a recap of the year's most notable technology use-cases led by sell-side and buy-side institutions.
Fixed income in 2023: Mergers, modernization, and mysteries, oh my!
Between tech revolutions, secret EMSs and electronified bonds, the fixed-income market saw major advancements over the last 12 months
Deutsche Börse to merge SimCorp and Axioma, shuttering Qontigo
The German exchange also plans to have 70% of its ‘IT state’ in the cloud by 2026.
LiquidityBook buys Messer in effort to beef up portfolio management capabilities
The OEMS provider has purchased the Hong Kong-based PMS provider—but don’t say it’s solely a play for the buy side.
Getting the message out about Aeron’s messaging
A year after Adaptive’s acquisition of Real Logic’s Aeron, the search for users of the open-source tech continues as Adaptive promises that UDP messaging can usurp TCP.
Locking down the lifecycle: Trading Technologies turns to analytics and TCA in latest acquisition
The tech provider gains TCA, analytics, and algo optimization tools as established vendors vie to build more comprehensive platforms.
Terminal velocity: MarketAxess bets on algo trading as electronification of fixed income gathers speed
MarketAxess hopes to bring fresh ideas from other asset classes with acquisition of multi-asset algorithm provider Pragma.
How exchanges are becoming more than just marketplaces
Wei-Shen examines how exchanges are branching out and pursuing new ventures that could bring them fresh revenue streams.
What’s the market for Ion Markets?
With whispers swirling that Ion’s chief executive is looking to cash out on his tech conglomerate, big changes could be coming to the world of fixed-income software.
Outsourced trading sees uptick as buy side seeks more bang for its buck
Buy-side firms see outsourced trading as a way to simplify their operating model, while custodians see an opportunity to sell bundled services.
Waters Wavelength Podcast: Symphony’s Brad Levy
Symphony’s CEO Brad Levy joins to discuss the future direction for the company and ESG data and analytics.
IBM bets big on generative AI
Although Q2 revenue was flat year-on-year, it was buoyed by IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI strategy. The tech giant will build up its AI capabilities similarly to how it’s dealt with Red Hat OpenShift.
Nasdaq’s Friedman hints at plans for Adenza post-acquisition
During Nasdaq’s earnings call, Adena Friedman explained to skeptical investors why the deal makes sense for the exchange operator.