Sun Holdings, the parent company of Sun Trading, is to acquire options market maker Toro Trading.
Sun, a Chicago-based high-speed trading shop with about 100 employees, focuses primarily on cash equities in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Toro, with about 9 employees, is a New York-based options market maker. The deal is expected to close August 30.
The deal is expected to diversify Sun Trading’s expertise and geographic reach, the company said in a statement. Sun will maintain an office in New York and retain Toro’s principals, Danon Robinson, Adam Besch-Turner and Joshua Jackson.
Sun expects its new presence in New York City to “increase our ability to attract even more of the industry’s top trading talent and to continue to grow our firm,” Sun Holdings chief executive Bernard Dan said in the statement.
Sun plans to grow the New York operation, hiring Talha Chaudhry, formerly a senior risk official at MF Global, to recruit trading pros.
The move is Sun’s second attempt at options trading. In 2011, the firm fired about one-third of its staff, including its options trading employees.
It is also Sun’s second move to diversify its business this year. In March, it bought a fixed-income market maker.
