Liquidnet is a global

institutional Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

investment network that connects asset managers with liquidity. Liquidnet trades in 46

equity markets A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...

for over 1000 institutional investment firms who collectively manage US$33 trillion in

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

and

fixed income Fixed income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year and repay the prin ...

assets. Liquidnet is headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and has offices in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

History

Liquidnet was founded in April 2001 by Seth Merrin as a wholesale electronic marketplace where institutional investors could anonymously trade large blocks of

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

s.Seth Merrin: Imagining Wholesale Change – Advanced Trading
/ref> Merrin estimated that the network needed at least 100

buy side Buy-side is a term used in investment firms to refer to advising institutions concerned with buying investment services. Private equity funds, mutual funds, life insurance companies, unit trusts, hedge funds, and pension funds are the most common ...

firms live on Day One to create a critical mass. This number was revised to 75, but the company ultimately launched with only 38 institutions. In 2002, Liquidnet Europe launched with nine member firms, with Liquidnet Asia launching with 26 member firms in 2007, bringing its global reach to 28 markets. Merrin describes his company as “creating marketplaces that enable institutions to trade in size with the efficiency that they sorely need.” In the U.S., Liquidnet's average execution size of 50,000 shares is 200 times the size of the 250-share average traded in all lit and dark venues. Liquidnet's average execution in international equities is reportedly 100 times larger than the average. Liquidnet has an Equity Capital Markets and Issuer Services group which leverages its community of institutional investors to determine institutional demand for a stock. In January 2010, Liquidnet announced a strategic investment in OTR Global LLC, a

securities research Securities research is a discipline within the financial services industry. Securities research professionals are known most generally as "analysts", "research analysts", or "securities analysts"; all the foregoing terms are synonymous. Researc ...

and

brokerage firm A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

. In October 2011, Liquidnet launched a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

shares market. As part of Liquidnet's equity capital markets division, the Private Shares group works with institutional investors and companies looking to trade private shares. In July 2011,

SIX Swiss Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange (formerly SWX Swiss Exchange), based in Zurich, is Switzerland's principal stock exchange (the other being Berne eXchange). SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other security (finance), securities such as Swiss government bonds and d ...

and Liquidnet launched a platform for non-displayed equity block trading. The platform allows SIX Swiss Exchange members and Liquidnet's buy side members to execute large block trades. In March 2014, Liquidnet acquired bond trading platform Vega-Chi, with trading facilities for high yield bonds and convertible bonds. In May 2017, Liquidnet acquired OTAS Technologies, a market-leading analytics platform that delivers actionable market intelligence and context directly to institutional traders and portfolio managers. In May 2019, Liquidnet acquired RSRCHXchange, a marketplace and aggregator for institutional research to help embed a new level of research and analytics into the investment process. In June 2019, Liquidnet acquire
Prattle
a provider of automated investment research solutions for portfolio managers, research analysts, and other financial professionals. In February 2020, founder Seth Merrin stepped down as CEO of Liquidnet. Company President Brian Conroy has been selected as his successor. In September and October 2020,

TP ICAP TP ICAP Group plc is a financial services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its stock is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was founded by Derek Tullett in 1971 as a ...

announced plans to acquire Liquidnet. Further details were provided in June 2021. In February 2021, shareholders approved the deal. In March 2021, TP ICAP announced the completion of its acquisition of Liquidnet. The acquisition was completed in March 2021. In September 2021, Liquidnet delved further into electronic trading with a new primary markets offering. In November 2021,

The Times of London ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...

reported that Liquidnet was suffering from low revenues and that this was hurting TP ICAP overall. In December 2021, Liquidnet expanded the services it offered in fixed income and equities to different European countries, including

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Also that month,

Euromoney ''Euromoney'' is an English-language monthly magazine focused on business and finance. First published in 1969, it is the flagship production of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc. History and profile ''Euromoney'' was first published in 19 ...

reported that the firm was aiming to digitize primary bond markets. In February 2022, TP ICAP announced a new feature connecting directly buy-side and syndicate banks via their order management and execution systems (OEMS), expanding on an offering announced the previous September. In March 2022, Liquidnet expanded its

emerging market An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or were ...

bond offerings with access to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Also that month, the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

reported that

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...

Phase 2 Partners was urging the parent company, TP ICAP, to sell itself. In April 2022, Liquidnet expanded its new issue trading protocol that would allow dealers to trade directly alongside the buy-side, another step in its electronic efforts announced in September 2021. The company also announced a collaboration with NowCM, a system and infrastructure provider for primary debt markets, to speed up new issue workflow. In September 2022, the company announced it was joining Sustainable Trading, a non-profit focused on environmental, social, and governance issues that aims to drive changes around sustainability and outside of regulation.

References

External links

*
Take a Tour of Liquidnet's Trading Floor
{{authority control American subsidiaries of foreign companies Electronic trading platforms 2021 mergers and acquisitions Financial services companies based in New York City American companies established in 2001 Financial services companies established in 2001 2001 establishments in New York City