London Stock Exchange (LSE) has acquired TORA, as part of its strategy to include digital assets trading.
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has acquired trading tech solutions provider, TORA for $325 million in a move to enter into a world of digital asset trading.
This deal includes TORA’s technology for order and execution management systems and portfolio management systems dedicated to customer trading equities, and infrastructure for fixed income, currencies, derivatives and digital assets.
Andrea Remyn Stone, group head of data and analytics at LSEG said, “this acquisition is a great example of LSEG’s strategy to provide customers with a global, multi-asset class financial infrastructure that operates across the capital markets and investment lifecycle as an open ecosystem”.
LSEG to offer crypto or NFT trading in the future
The exchange group said that this deal would strengthen its presence in a rapidly expanding asset class, at a time when institutional market participants are increasing exposure to crypto and other digital assets.
TORA will become a part of LSEG’s data and analytics division, after completing the acquisition by the second half of the year. This merger will offer LSEG the ability to better compete in Asia and North America, where TORA carries a presence with major offices in Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, and Tokyo.
Dean Berry, the group’s head of trading and banking solutions at LSEG said, "Acquiring TORA will enable LSEG to deliver critical 'at trade' capabilities for the buy-side, seamlessly connecting into our next generation desktop Workspace”.
Berry added, “Combining TORA’s international footprint with LSEG’s global reach will drive further growth and we look forward to collaborating to continue this expansion”.
The LSEG is also exploring digital assets and crypto-based services just like other financial institutions and it follows mainstream interests such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). LSEG’s parent company said the addition of digital assets to its trading capabilities strengthens its presence in this rapidly expanding asset class.
Robert Dykes, CEO of TORA said, “Change is needed to evolve, and as we look to grow our global business, we couldn’t have asked for a better partner than LSEG”. “We see this complementary combination as an incredible opportunity to create the most advanced trading solutions for clients,” he added.
Previous partnerships
TORA partnered with investment company, Kinetic in 2018 and launched its crypto trading platform Caspian and it linked to almost 30 cryptocurrency exchanges and liquidity providers, including Binance, Coinbase and FTX.
The stock exchange group had invested with Nivaura, a workflow solution dedicated to capital markets that work with conventional and blockchain systems.