Tradeweb to Buy MMF Portal ICD
The electronic-trading platform, long known for its fixed-income offerings, will pay $785 million in its biggest acquisition yet.
Tradeweb Markets Inc. has struck an agreement to buy investment-technology provider Institutional Cash Distributors (ICD) as it seeks growth beyond its core rates-trading business.
The electronic-trading platform, long known for its fixed-income offerings, will pay $785 million in its biggest acquisition yet, according to a statement, which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg report. The deal will give Tradeweb access to one of the largest U.S. institutional money-market fund (MMF) portals, which works with about 500 corporate treasury organizations.
It’s the third acquisition Tradeweb has made since the start of 2023, when Billy Hult took over as the CEO. While the rates business still accounts for half its revenue, the company has sought to embrace different asset classes as it seeks to refashion itself as a one-stop trading shop.
“The future is multi-asset class,” Hult said in an interview. “I love the idea of supercharging the concept of the one-stop shop by continuing to add asset classes, products, and regions.”
In the past five years, Tradeweb has doubled its revenue. The company’s stock has soared 280 percent since its 2019 debut, giving it a valuation of roughly $24 billion. Hult said that growth is giving him the confidence to be on the lookout for more deals.
“My instinct is there’s more to come,” he said. “Once you are producing the sort of numbers we are producing, it gives you leverage to do more.”
In recent months, Tradeweb acquired technology provider r8fin and struck another deal to expand its presence in Australia and New Zealand with the purchase of YieldBroker. The stock rose to an all-time high in March.
ICD provides software to corporate treasurers that helps them manage short-term investments, with a particular focus on MMFs. Last year, it had average daily balances of more than $230 billion. The technology firm announced a growth investment from Parthenon Capital in 2017. After the transaction closes, ICD CEO Tory Hazard will join Tradeweb’s operating committee, according to the statement.
Tradeweb mainly services asset managers, hedge funds, and other institutional investors, but it also has products for the wholesale and retail market. With ICD, it will have access to the corporate channel.
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