Virtu Financial to buy independent brokerage ITG for $1 billion

(Reuters) - High-speed trading firm Virtu Financial Inc is buying independent brokerage Investment Technology Group Inc (ITG) for about $1 billion, ITG said on Wednesday as Virtu looks to add more big institutional investors.

ITG shareholders will receive $30.30 in cash for each share, representing a premium of 9 percent to the stock's Tuesday closing price.

The offer also represents a 40 percent premium since reports of a deal first surfaced in October.

Virtu last year bought rival high-frequency trader KCG Holdings Inc, allowing it to execute orders for retail brokerages. (https://bit.ly/2tikRlz)

Virtu's shares rose 6.5 pct to $26.24 in premarket trading. Shares of ITG, which on Wednesday also reported a better-than-expected third-quarter profit, were trading flat.

 

J.P. Morgan was the financial adviser to ITG and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz its legal adviser.

(Reporting by Bharath Manjesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar and Arun Koyyur)