PLUS Markets Group was a UK electronic stock exchange based in London for small cap companies that was acquired by ICAP in 2012 and rebranded as Icap Securities and Derivatives Exchange</i> (ISDX). It was a market operator under MiFID Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, and was both a regulated market and an multilateral trading facility.
PLUS Market Group was the holding company for PLUS Stock Exchange (PLUS-SX), PLUS Derivatives (PLUS-DX) and Plus Technology (PLUS-TX). It provided cash trading, listing, derivatives and technology services. After the group got into financial trouble in 2012 it looked for ways to sell the business. The exchange, containing all the listed companies and the exchange license, was sold to ICAP and the technology division was sold to Forum Trading Solutions.
History
A successor to OFEX, the off exchange trading platform, PLUS was launched in 2005 as a competitor to the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market using a new electronic trading exchange software. Although gaining a number of listings, including Arsenal Football Club it failed to break even and the group eventually got into financial difficulty in 2012.
In 2008 PLUS posted a pre-tax loss of £8.26 million for 2009, following a pre-tax loss of £10.20 million for 2008. It also announced the results of a strategic review, outlining plans to move away from its core retail market and develop a new platform with a view to trade more exotic securities, such as derivatives
In May 2012 it initially announced that it would wind down its operations and close after failing to find a buyer, but then a week later on 18 May 2012 it announced that ICAP, the interdealer broker, would buy PLUS Stock Exchange (PLUS-SX) and its derivative operations. The group later sold the technology division PLUS-TS to Forum Trading Solutions.
Management
PLUS Markets Group was run by Cyril Theret, formerly the business development director at PLUS. The finance director was Nemone Wynn-Evans, also a former business development director at the company.
See also
- London Stock Exchange
- Alternative Investment Market
- Markets in Financial Instruments Directive
References
External links
- PLUS Markets website
- PLUS Rules for Issuers
- Plus set to relaunch as derivatives exchange
- PLUS MARKETS Response to the Public Consultation on the Review of The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)
- Plus Markets fails to impress on eve of move into derivatives
- Doubts hang over Plus’s future as an exchange
