Trading Tech Providers Itiviti and Ullink Announce Merger

Itiviti, which is backed by Nordic Capital Fund VII, is to merge with Ullink and integrate its suite of buy-side-focused products. Itiviti’s portfolio of sell-side trading solutions, which includes Catalys, a front- and middle-office fixed-income infrastructure platform, and Tbricks, a modular platform for algorithmic, basket, hedge and spread trading, will be merged with that of Ullink, most notably, the FIX order routing network, Nyfix, and the firm’s equities and derivatives platforms.

Torben Munch, CEO of Itiviti, tells WatersTechnology that Ullink had been on the company’s radar for some time and that the acquisition was an opportunity to meet increasing market demands for full-service technology and service providers that can cover all asset classes.

“We have looked at this in the view of supporting the trading cycle of the full value chain and how we can put the pieces together in terms of different product sets to service that,” he says. “This acquisition makes us a one-stop-shop for quite a few institutions out there, where they can have one vendor that can service all of their needs and we will take the responsibility of integrating our solutions for them.”

Following the completion of the deal, the combined organization will have a client base of almost 2,000 users across the sell and buy sides, with combined revenues of $200 million and a global presence. Munch also highlights the growing interest in managed service offerings that Itiviti will seek to address through the integration of Ullink.

“Both Ullink and Itiviti see an increasing demand for managed solutions,” Munch says. “Whereas firms in the past would usually deploy a solution, today every conversation fundamentally starts with taking it out as a managed solution. It’s not just tier-three or four institutions, it’s also tier ones and twos that have these requirements.”

Munch declined to give a timeframe within which the merger would be completed, as the deal is subject to antitrust and regulatory approvals. Financial details of the deal or share arrangements post-merger were not disclosed.

Ullink did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.