–       Expands London Stock Exchange Group’s global fixed income offering through MTS
–       Complementary product offering to meet needs of global customer base
–       Growing trend towards electronic trading for fixed income products

MTS, part of London Stock Exchange Group, today announces that it has entered into a merger agreement to acquire Bonds.com Group (“Bonds”) (BDCG.), a U.S. based platform for the electronic trading of U.S. corporate and emerging market bonds. The all-cash acquisition will see MTS Markets International Inc., a wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of MTS, acquire 100 per cent of Bonds’ outstanding shares.

MTS is a leading provider of electronic trading in the European bond markets, with more than $100 billion executed daily on average over its existing platform. Through its new U.S. subsidiary, MTS Markets International, it offers U.S. buy-side participants the ability to directly access real-time pricing from one of the deepest liquidity pools in Europe and to trade electronically with all the major European dealers via its BondVision platform.

Bonds offers real-time, executable orders on U.S. corporate bonds and emerging market debt to over 600 buy- and sell-side institutions. Currently over 90 per cent of all trades completed through the platform are conducted electronically, with customers also able to benefit from a price discovery function.

The transaction meets the growing customer and regulatory demand for access to transparent, electronic, cost-effective platforms for the trading of fixed income securities.

Jack Jeffery, CEO of MTS Group said: “This transaction enhances MTS’ position as a global provider of fixed income trading platforms and is a natural extension for both MTS and London Stock Exchange Group. The expanded product offering will enable us to meet the on-going industry and regulatory drive for greater transparency and efficiency in fixed income markets, through a competitive and cost-effective platform.”
 
Mark Monahan, Chief Executive of MTS Markets International Inc said: “Bonds.com Group has steadily developed its client base in the U.S. covering both buy and sell-side institutions. As a result of this transaction, MTS will be able to offer Bonds.com Group its extensive expertise in the fixed income space, investing to expand the product offering for U.S. fixed income traders to meet their domestic and international needs.”
 
George O’Krepkie, President of Bonds.com Group Inc said: “We are delighted to be teaming with MTS as we enter the next phase of growth and development. We believe that the trend towards greater electronic trading for fixed income products will continue as the customer base becomes increasingly global. MTS brings a wealth of experience in providing electronic platforms for fixed income trading, which will enable us to better serve our customers through increased product choice.”

MTS Markets International Inc. and Bonds are both FINRA member broker dealers.

Closing is subject to customary regulatory clearance and stockholder approval and is expected in Q2 2014.

For further information:
Media
Lucie Holloway
+44 (0)20 7797 1222
Mark Benhard
+1 212 314 1199

newsroom@lseg.com

About MTS:
MTS is one of Europe’s premier facilitators for the electronic fixed income trading market, with over 500 counterparties and average daily turnover exceeding EUR 100 billion. MTS customers benefit from its relationship with Europe’s leading diversified exchange business, the London Stock Exchange Group, which operates the largest and most liquid equity marketplace in Europe.

MTS markets provide a professional trading environment for the interdealer marketplace, enabling primary dealers from across the globe to access high levels of liquidity, transparency and coverage.

The MTS Repo platform delivers an order driven market for the electronic transaction of repo agreements and buy/sellbacks. ACM is an electronic auction platform that uses the MTS Repo technology to enable cash-rich investors to enter into secured money market investments via the tri-party repo mechanism.

MTS further facilitates the dealer-to-client bond market through BondVision, a most trusted and efficient electronic bond trading market, delivering exceptional access for institutional investors direct to the market makers, while MTS Credit delivers an electronic market for a wide range of multi-currency non-government bonds.

Through our US broker dealer, we provide US institutional investors with real-time pricing and the ability to trade electronically with all the major European dealers on the BondVision US platform.

MTS Data is sourced directly and only from the MTS interdealer market and includes benchmark real-time data, reference data, reference prices, historical data, providing the benchmark data source on the fixed income market.

MTS Indices provide the first independent, transparent, real-time and tradable eurozone fixed income indices, based on tradable prices from MTS. MTS indices are tracked by (and can be traded via) around 40 ETFs in addition to numerous structured products.

About London Stock Exchange Group:
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.L) is a diversified international exchange Group that sits at the heart of the world’s financial community. The Group can trace its history back to 1801.

The Group operates a broad range of international equity, bond and derivatives markets, including London Stock Exchange; Borsa Italiana; MTS, Europe’s leading fixed income market; and the pan-European equities platform, Turquoise. Through its markets, the Group offers international business, and investors, unrivalled access to Europe’s capital markets.

Post trade and risk management services are a significant and growing part of the Group’s business operations. LSEG operates CC&G, the Rome headquartered CCP and Monte Titoli, the significant European settlement business, selected as a first wave T2S participant. The Group is also a majority owner of leading multi-asset global CCP, LCH.Clearnet.

The Group offers its customers an extensive range of real-time and reference data products, including Sedol, UnaVista, Proquote and RNS. FTSE calculates thousands of unique indices that measure and benchmark markets and asset classes in more than 80 countries around the world.

London Stock Exchange Group is also a leading developer of high performance trading platforms and capital markets software. In addition to the Group’s own markets, over 30 other organisations and exchanges around the world use the Group’s MillenniumIT trading, surveillance and post trade technology.

Headquartered in London, United Kingdom with significant operations in Italy, France, North America and Sri Lanka, the Group employs approximately 2,800 people.

Further information on London Stock Exchange Group can be found at: www.lseg.com