Markit Agrees to Acquire SwapsWire

Markit has agreed in principle to buy SwapsWire. The acquisition is expected to be completed in early 2008, subject to agreement of definitive documents, due diligence, shareholder and regulatory approval. SwapsWire is used by major dealers, inter-dealer brokers, prime-brokers and buy-side institutions active in the global OTC derivative markets. The company is owned by a consortium of 21 derivative dealers and employs 100 staff based in offices in London, New York and Tokyo. Markit plans to combine the SwapsWire confirmation capabilities with its trade processing workflow platform to provide the OTC derivative markets with a cross-asset trade processing solution with critical mass and a global network. The enhanced platform will have over 200 buy-side institutions, 50 dealers, and 45 inter-dealer brokers as clients. The combined business will be co-headed by Jeff Gooch, executive vice president and head of trade processing and valuations at Markit, and Chip Carver, CEO of SwapsWire.

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