Electronic Trading Newsflashes: Creditex Is Merging With CreditTrade to Beef Up its Position in Credit Derivatives Execution and Processing Services, and more

Creditex Is Merging With CreditTrade to Become a Major Global Player in Credit Derivatives Execution and Processing Services

Creditex, a leader in execution and processing of credit derivatives, is merging with CreditTrade, a voice broker in the global credit markets.

The new company, to be known as Creditex Group, is poised to take a leading market position in the fastest growing sectors of the credit default swap (CDS) market- namely European and North American indices, European and North American structured products as well as strong positions across all single name sectors and emerging markets globally, says the release.

With offices in New York, New Jersey and London and Singapore, Creditex Group expects to execute over USD $2 trillion in notional in 2006 of single name, emerging markets, index and index-tranche credit derivatives.

"By combining the two companies' complementary strengths, Creditex Group will be best positioned to lead the market in innovation and voice and electronic execution services," stated Sunil Hirani, CEO of Creditex Group, in the release.

The combined companies will have in excess of 225 employees across three continents working to deliver the best in execution and processing services, said the release.

The credit derivatives market has expanded at a pace of over 100 percent annually over the past few years, topping USD $17 trillion in outstanding notional in 2005, stated the release.

"The combined company is uniquely positioned to meet the credit markets' growing and increasingly complex execution needs, whether it's voice, hybrid or electronic delivery," stated Mark Davies, senior managing director and global head of credit trading at Bear Stearns.

The closing is expected to be complete within the next 30-to-60 days, following regulatory approvals.

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