ConvergEx finalized its previously announced sale of Eze Castle Software and RealTick to an affiliate of TPG, a global private investment firm.
Eze Castle is an order management system and RealTick an execution management system. Eze Castle Software merged with the Bank of New York’s brokerage division in October 2006 to form BNY ConvergEx. RealTick, which began as Townsend Analytics in 1985, was bought by ConvergEx in December 2010.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ConvergEx and TPG Capital struck the deal to purchase Eze Castle and RealTick in January.
For ConvergEx, the focus will now shift to its global brokerage and trading-related services to institutional investors and financial intermediaries. Its management structure and investor base remain unchanged after the completion of the transaction.
“We see a great number of opportunities in our future as we keep innovating and delivering differentiated technology-driven solutions, while providing superior client-first service,” said ConvergEx chairman and chief executive officer Joseph Velli in a release.
Buyer TPG Capital is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the world, with $54.5 billion in capital under management. The firm invests in a broad range of industries including consumer/retail, media and telecommunications, industrials, technology, travel/leisure and health care.
TPG plans for Eze Castle Software and RealTick to operate under the name Eze Software Group. ConvergEx will maintain a close relationship with Eze Software Group through a cooperative marketing arrangement to ensure that each firm’s services will continue to be offered on an integrated basis. Each firm will also cross-sell the other company’s services.
ConvergEx, which had been on an acquisition binge since launching in 2006, looked to divest Eze Castle-an order management system-and RealTick-an execution management system, in late 2012. The two, considered ConvergEx’s choicest assets, were said to be worth as much as $1 billion in a sale, according to traders.
ConvergEx was formed in October 2006 by the combination of Eze Castle Software and BNY Mellon’s institutional execution business. GTCR, a Chicago-based investment firm, also was a founding partner at the onset.
