Euronext, one of the leading exchanges in the Eurozone, has acquired 78% of the capital of SaaS provider Commcise from its founders for £27 million to address the needs of the buy-side and sell-side communities with ways of simplifying their business and efficiently managing research procurement and commissioning across the globe.
The Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of research evaluation and commission management solutions for financial services firms combines research funding, consumption and accounting into a single platform.
Amrish Ganatra, Chief Executive Officer of Commcise, commented:
“Euronext’s acquisition of a majority stake in Commcise underlines the leading position we have already achieved in our market. The senior management team of Commcise is very excited by the next stage of growth and the opportunities we can realise as part of Euronext. We are fully aligned with Euronext’s strategy of delivering value to customers across the buy-side, sell-side and corporate communities. Euronext already has an impressive eco-system which Commcise will complement to the benefit of the customers of the combined group and a growing set of new business partners.”
The acquisition of Commcise will allow Euronext to offer its customers with CommciseBUY, which provides asset managers with a cloud-hosted platform to manage their research funding and associated cost allocation (irrespective of whether its paid through trading, direct charge to clients or P&L), automated trade reconciliation, resource consumption tracking, contract management, research accounting, as well as flexible reporting tools to improve transparency in line with MiFID II regulation.
In addition to CommciseBUY, Euronext has also obtained the company’s cloud-hosted platform for broker-dealers and research providers covering commission management and service pricing, named CommciseSELL, and its service pricing and client profitability tool designed to meet the specific needs of independent research providers, named CommciseRP
Stéphane Boujnah, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Managing Board of Euronext, said:
“The acquisition of Commcise demonstrates our commitment to increasing our value proposition for all our customers. Capitalising on its track record of delivering new value-added services to issuers, Euronext is addressing the needs of the buy-side and sell-side communities with ways of simplifying their business and efficiently managing research procurement and commissioning across the globe. The acquisition is consistent with our disciplined approach to M&A and our Agility for Growth strategic plan, with the goal of serving Euronext’s client base through a broader range of services.”
LiquidShare’s Tests Blockchain-Powered Post-Trade Settlement Infrastructure on Euronext’s Markets
Euronext has also recently announced the pilot phase of LiquidShare’s European post-trade settlement infrastructure for shares in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) using blockchain. The platform which is now live on Euronext’s markets connects to asset managers’, broker-dealers’ and custodians’ information systems, enabling them to more easily invest in and process listed and non-listed European SMEs.
Thibaud de Maintenant, CEO of LiquidShare, said:
“The delivery of LiquidShare Platform is the result of the efforts of the Pilot Participants and is the first milestone to become the first industrial blockchain in production, processing hundreds of transactions per day in a regulated environment ”
LiquidShare was created by BNP Paribas, CACEIS, Caisse des Dépôts, Euroclear, Euronext, S2iEM and Société Générale with the support of Paris EUROPLACE.
