Asset Match, the UK’s first electronic platform for trading shares in private companies, has acquired Sharemark, the online stock market for smaller listed and non-listed companies, for an undisclosed sum.
Sharemark is designed to provide a low cost, online secondary trading platform.
Sharemark and its multilateral trading facility (MTF) will be rebranded as Asset Match. The new Asset Match MTF will enable more cost effective, liquid and transparent share trading and should be attractive to companies who are not considering a public listing, as well as those companies delisting from the AIM and PLUS markets.
Companies previously admitted to trading on Sharemark will transfer with the platform, benefiting from an improved profile under the Asset Match brand with the addition of independent research and the very latest information from buyers and sellers that help to facilitate fair prices. Asset Match will settle all transactions for the Asset Match MTF via The Share Centre, one of the UK’s largest independent stockbrokers, owned by publicly quoted, Share plc. The Share Centre will remain responsible for the operation of the MTF.
Launched in September, Asset Match’s strategy is to revolutionise the trading of UK private company shares and to provide liquidity in growing and medium sized UK companies. Its electronic platform enables companies, existing shareholders and new investors to register online, where they can then meet on a peer-to peer basis and trade with each other transparently and securely.
Stuart Lucas, founder and co-chief executive of Asset Match, says: “This is an excellent step forward for Asset Match. The combination of the platforms will provide a simple and effective solution for existing and potential trading companies, depending on the maturity of their business and the regulatory framework they seek. This acquisition accelerates our growth and enables us to provide a more efficient service to our target companies.”
