KCG Holdings, Inc. was an American global financial services firm engaging in market making, high-frequency trading, electronic execution, and institutional sales and trading.[3] The company was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of the merger between Knight Capital Group, Inc. and GETCO Holding Company, LLC.[4] Global growth equity firm General Atlantic, who had a 25% stake in GETCO, made an additional equity investment at the time of the merger. Rene Kern, managing director at General Atlantic joined the board of directors[5]
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| NYSE: KCG | |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 2013 from merger of Knight Capital Group and Getco LLC |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
Key people | Daniel Coleman, Chief Executive Officer |
| Products | Market making and trading |
| Revenue |  US$ 1.45 billion (2016) [1] |
 US$ 61.1 million (2014)[2] | |
| Total assets | US$ 6.830 billion (2014)[2] |
| Total equity | US$ 1.522 billion (2014)[2] |
Number of employees | 1,093 (2014)[2] |
| Parent | Virtu Financial |
| Subsidiaries | NetDelta LLC |
| Website | www.kcg.com |
On April 20, 2017, KCG announced that it had agreed to be acquired by Virtu Financial for $20 per share in cash in a deal valued at approximately $1.4 billion.[6][7]
History edit
Getco LLC was founded in 1999[8] by Stephen Schuler and Daniel Tierney, former floor traders in Chicago, and had 400 employees at the time of the merger. The firm's primary business was electronic market making/high-frequency trading, though it also provided execution algorithms and a dark pool through its client services arm, Getco Execution Services.
Knight Capital Group was founded in 1995[9] as Knight/Trimark Group and had about 1400 employees at the time of the merger. Its largest business was market-making in US equities for retail brokerages, though it also provided other services such as electronic execution, dark pools, plus institutional sales and trading. In August 2012, a technological/managerial breakdown subsequently dubbed the "Knightmare" caused Knight to lose $460m in the course of one trading day, nearly putting the firm out of business.[10] In December 2012, it agreed to be acquired by Getco LLC. The merger was approved by the respective stockholders and unitholders of both companies on June 25, 2013.[4]
On July 8, 2013, chief executive officer Daniel Coleman rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, marking the completion of Knight and Getco's merger and the unveiling of a new corporate identity, KCG Holdings.[11]
In 2014, 27 million shares of Platinum Studios were acquired by KCG Holdings.[12]
In January 2015, KCG Holdings announced it would be selling its foreign exchange trading platform KCG Hotspot to BATS Global Markets for $365 million.[13]
In April 2017, Virtu Financial announced that it would purchase KCG Holdings for US$1.4 billion in cash.[14] The acquisition closed on July 20, 2017.[15]
See also edit
- Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. v. Manning, a 2016 Supreme Court case involving naked short selling claims against KCG and Merrill Lynch, among others.
References edit
- ^ Company profile dnb.com
- ^ a b c d "KCG - Press Release". KCG Holdings, Inc.
- ^ "About Us | KCG". Retrieved 2013-07-10.
- ^ a b "Knight Capital Group And GETCO Complete Merger". news.kcg.com. KCG Holdings.
- ^ "GETCO to Acquire Knight Capital (KCG) for $3.75/Share in Cash and Stock". Street Insider. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
- ^ Shankar, Sruthi. "Virtu Financial is buying KCG Holdings for $1.4 billion". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
- ^ "Trading firm Virtu Financial to buy KCG for about $1.4 billion". Reuters. 2017-04-20. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
- ^ Marek, Lynne (3 July 2013). "KCG taps former Getco CEO Schuler". Chicago Business.
- ^ "History". KCG Holdings.
- ^ October 23, 2013, Register, "Lone Sysadmin triggers 462 Million dollar crash"
- ^ "NYSE Press Release, July 03, 2013". Archived from the original on July 29, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
- ^ MacDonald, Heidi. "Is a holding company acquiring what is left of Platinum Studios?," The Beat (Mar. 4, 2014).
- ^ "Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions". Reuters. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
- ^ Virtu Financial, Inc. Agrees to Acquire KCG Holdings, Inc. to Create a Premier Market Maker and Agency Execution Firm virtu.com
- ^ "Virtu Financial, Inc. Completes Acquisition of KCG Holdings, Inc". ir.virtu.com. Retrieved 2018-03-19.