TP ICAP intends to buy European brokerage group Louis Capital Markets and MidCap Partners for USD21 million in cash, according to Morningstar. The deal will include a deferred non-contingent consideration of USD6 million over two years plus a USD17 million of deferred contingent consideration that may be payable dependent upon the performance of the business over three to five years as well as a potential profit share dependent upon the performance of the business.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020, subject to some customary commercial conditions and regulatory approvals both in the UK and US. Louis Capital, who mostly operates in London and Paris, generated a pretax profit of USD4.3 million in 2018, with gross assets of USD35.4 million. The firm also has offices in New York, Hong Kong, and Tel Aviv.
Nicolas Breteau, Chief Executive Officer at TP ICAP, commented: “Louis Capital’s strong brand and breadth of equity, equity derivatives and fixed income products complement our existing offering and strengthen TP ICAP’s position in Continental Europe.”
In late 2018, TP ICAP announced the acquisition of a US-based energy and commodity brokerage firm, Axiom Commodity Group. The initial payment of $15.1 million in cash was complemented with a further $3.1 million based on financial performance over the three years period and an extra $10.9 million paid to the commodities broker. Axiom became part of TP ICAP’s Energy & Commodities division, given its large presence in the natural gas, petroleum, biofuels, power and grains markets.
In July 2019, TP ICAP launched a comprehensive market data service for the Indian OTC market which allows participants to access information based on real-time bids and offers, rather than having to rely on indicatives. The service sources real-time data relating to INR denominated Money Markets, FX, Interest Rate Derivatives and Fixed Income instruments from five desks – four onshore and one offshore – and provides real-time data direct from electronics swaps trading platform, I-Stream.
The company has recently appointed industry veteran Amir Zaidi to serve as its head of global compliance division, reporting directly to Philip Price – Group General Counsel and Executive Direction at the firm. In August, the firm promoted Michel Plabquart to the role of Chief Executive Officer for their EMEA business division. In October, TP ICAP added industry veteran Joanna Nader as its new Global Head of Strategy.
