Global Trader talks end

Negotiations around the possible acquisition of international derivatives provider Global Trader by a UK private equity group have come to a close without a transaction taking place.

The two parties were unable to reach a satisfactory outcome around the tentative offer made in November last year and have decided to withdraw from the negotiations on amicable terms.

With institutional and private clients in over 29 countries, Global Trader provided an attractive opportunity for a private equity fund to benefit from a rapidly expanding company operating in high growth markets.

Global Trader is an international provider of tailored leveraged brokerage execution services, predominantly through the use of Contracts For Difference (CFDs) which the company has pioneered in emerging markets since 2000.

One market in which Global Trader has enjoyed considerable success is South Africa, with the Johannesburg-based office carving its own niche in local derivatives trading for retail and institutional investors alike.

Charles Savage, Managing Director of Global Trader South Africa, says the company will continue to build on the exceptional trading levels seen over the past year as the derivatives specialist continues with “business as usual”.

“The growth over the last year has been ahead of budget, with a substantial increase in top line trading income in the 12 months to March 2007 driving a commensurate increase in pre tax profits for the group,” says Andrew Proctor, the group’s CFO. This growth has accelerated in recent months, spurred on by the recent run on equity markets worldwide.

Equities, indices, commodities and individual stocks in which Global Trader offers its CFD products are breaching all-time highs on a weekly basis. The market for leveraged derivatives products is growing in size and maturity on a daily basis, not only in South Africa, but also in other developing economies such as Thailand, India and most of Eastern Europe.

“The termination of the transaction has given Global Trader a clear focus on continuing the growth of the business whilst strengthening its infrastructure and capacity. The Board and Executive look forward to Global Trader’s continued growth and its successful move into the next phase of its life cycle,” Fleur Gremmen, Global Trader group CEO said.

Tags: Global Trader

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 3:10 am and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.