Nirvana Systems Goes Live on SunGard’s PowerData Feed, and more

Nirvana Systems Goes Live on SunGard's PowerData Feed

SunGard announced this week that Nirvana Systems has gone live on SunGard's PowerData Feed, which supplies Nirvana Systems' OmniTrader and VisualTrader software with delayed and end-of-day pricing data. Nirvana Systems' OmniTrader and VisualTrader are proprietary trading analysis and modeling applications used by more than 40,000 individual investors. Steve Belknap, chief operating officer of Nirvana Systems, said in a release: "Our requirements for a data provider were high data integrity, quality in the people supporting us, and excellence in the organization overall, and SunGard was the best choice for us. Our technical analysis applications depend heavily on reliable pricing data to produce accurate end results for our customers, and PowerData Feed helps meet our needs with superior speed and precision." According to the release, with PowerData Feed, Nirvana Systems was able to continue utilizing its existing communications network provider, and improve the speed of its end-of-day downloads from 30 minutes to less than 10 seconds. In addition to delayed and end-of-day pricing data, PowerData Feed helps maintain Nirvana Systems' corporate records databases with data on stock splits, dividends and other corporate activity. "SunGard is pleased to deliver the high-speed market data Nirvana Systems needs to supplement its applications and help effectively serve its customers," said Janet Crowley, president, data management solutions, SunGard, in the release. "SunGard continues to enhance PowerData to reliably deliver both real-time and delayed data and flexible service offerings for dynamic applications, user desktops, databases and calculation engines."

GFI Group Inc. to Acquire Starsupply Petroleum

GFI Group Inc. announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire substantially all of the assets of Starsupply Petroleum, a leading broker of oil products and related derivative and option contracts.

Headquartered in Englewood, N.J., Starsupply had revenues of over $23 million in 2004. GFI is acquiring all of Starsupply's North American brokerage operations for just over $15 million in cash. The transaction is subject to standard closing conditions and is scheduled to close before the end of September. GFI expects the acquisition at closing to be immediately accretive to earnings per share, according to the release.

Michael Gooch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GFI, said in a release: "We are very pleased to acquire the oil brokerage businesses of Starsupply, with its substantial market position, longstanding reputation for quality service and talented brokerage team. This acquisition is consistent with GFI's strategic vision of combining leading brokerage desks in key markets under our growing, technologically innovative, and highly focused business model."

Robert Ryneveld, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Starsupply, stated in a release: "I am extremely proud of the business and the reputation that Starsupply has built in our industry during the past 20 years. It has been a team effort involving many dedicated and talented people. I believe that the addition of the Starsupply team to the GFI organization will serve to strengthen and expand GFI's already formidable presence in global energy markets." Mr. Ryneveld will continue to serve in the business after the closing.

Mizuho International plc Live With Xcitek's XSP Corporate Actions Automation Solution

Xcitek, a leading global provider of market data, corporate actions software, and staffing solutions, announced today that Mizuho International, the London-based securities and investment banking arm of the Mizuho Financial Group, is live with the XSP software solution for Corporate Actions processing.

John W. Sweeney, Executive Director of Securities Services at Mizuho International commented in a press release, "After a detailed evaluation process of Corporate Action system providers which involved reference site visits and scoring of their core functionality we selected the Xcitek solution. XSP gives us end-to-end automation in our asset servicing area and enables us to offer a strong and competitive custody service to our clients whilst reducingoperational risk. We look forward to strengthening our existing relationship with Xcitek and benefiting from their proven development and support services."

Brendan P. Farrell Jr., Managing Partner of Xcitek said in the release, "With the increasing volume and complexity of global Corporate Actions, a world-leading organization like Mizuho International requires a robust Corporate Actions processing solution to maximize operational efficiency whilst delivering optimal service to their clients. The advanced multimarket processing capabilities of XSP facilitate true global straight-through processing (STP) for Mizuho's custody businesses."