IG Group Holdings plc (“IG”, “the Group”, “the Company”), a global leader in online trading and tastytrade, Inc. (‘tastytrade’), the fast-growing online brokerage and investor education platform, are pleased to announce the completion of a $1 billion landmark partnership.
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The partnership significantly increases the scale and relevance of IG’s existing US business, resulting in a prominent position in the high-growth retail options trading market through tastytrade’s market-leading online brokerage and trading education platform, used by over 105,000 self-directed investors with active accounts. IG’s powerful global reach provides tastytrade with a platform for international expansion.
The transaction is made up of $300 million in cash and the issuance of 61,000,000 new ordinary shares in IG Group (the “Consideration Shares”) to tastytrade shareholders.
With an estimated 1.5 million retail traders, the US options and futures market is larger than the global CFD/FX and European Turbo markets combined. The newly-combined business is underpinned by a shared track record of innovation, client-centric philosophy and leadership in financial markets and is well positioned to take advantage of the exceptional structural growth of self-directed investing in the US. It will deliver a powerful service that is designed to educate and empower ambitious investors as they navigate the financial markets.
The management teams for IG and tastytrade will remain in place, reflecting the winning combination of a shared client-centric ethos and ambitious forward-looking strategy across the business. Key tastytrade management shareholders, comprising Tom Sosnoff (Co-CEO, tastytrade), Kristi Ross (Co-CEO and President, tastytrade), Scott Sheridan (CEO, tastyworks) and Linwood Ma (CTO, tastytrade), have joined the IG senior leadership team and will continue in their current roles to help drive further growth in tastytrade, and will collectively own approximately 5.7% of the enlarged share capital of IG.
June Felix, Chief Executive of IG, commented, “This transaction marks an important milestone in the delivery of IG’s growth strategy, diversifying our product offering and significantly strengthening our global footprint.
I am thrilled to welcome tastytrade to the IG Group family. This innovative, high growth, high margin business gives us immediate scale in the largest listed options and futures market in the world.
tastytrade offers something that is completely new: it has truly disrupted the market by combining content that is unique and entertaining with deeply quantitative and technical analysis. This transaction will significantly enhance client choice and opportunity as we focus on providing innovative educational content, a broad suite of products and tools to empower their financial decision making and give them the best possible trading experience.”
Tom Sosnoff, Founder and co-CEO of tastytrade, said, “The completion of this deal is a milestone moment for tastytrade. For the past decade, we have worked tirelessly to build a trading ecosystem that challenges self-directed retail investors to think and trade strategically. Our partnership with IG gives us the opportunity to contribute this expertise as part of a global offering that reflects the scope of our ambitions.”
Kristi Ross, co-Founder and co-CEO of tastytrade, said, “The synergies between tastytrade and IG are clear. Together, our mission is to deliver a sophisticated, first-in-class trading experience that puts our clients at the heart of all we do. This distinctive, differentiated offering will allow IG and tastytrade to capitalise on the long-term, structural democratisation of global financial markets.”
About IG
IG empowers informed, self-directed, ambitious people to access opportunities in over 17,000 financial markets. With a strong focus on innovation and technology, the Company puts client needs at the heart of everything it does.
IG’s vision is to provide the world’s best trading experience. Established in 1974 as one of the world’s first providers of financial derivatives to retail traders, it continued leading the way by launching the world’s first online and iPhone trading services.
IG is an award-winning, multi-product trading company which allows retail, professional and institutional clients to trade 24 hours a day, 7 days a week1. IG is the world’s No.1 provider of CFDs2 and a global leader in forex derivatives. It provides leveraged services with the option of limited-risk guarantees and offers an execution-only stock trading service in the UK and Australia. IG has a range of affordable, fully managed investment portfolios, which provide a comprehensive offering to investors and active traders.
IG is a member of the FTSE 250, with offices across Europe, including a Swiss bank, Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North America. IG Group Holdings plc holds a long-term investment grade credit rating of BBB- with a stable outlook from Fitch Ratings.
About tastytrade, Inc.
Based in Chicago, IL and founded in 2011, tastytrade is a unique and fast-growing platform advocating for and empowering the individual investor. A disruptive force in the U.S. derivatives market, tastytrade provides differentiated financial content, retail trader education and brokerage services. The company was founded and is led by the entrepreneurial management team who previously created the highly successful options trading platform, thinkorswim, acquired by TD Ameritrade in 2009.
tastytrade is one of the most-watched online financial networks, engaging investors and traders across 190 countries with 8 hours of daily, live, cost-free and commercial free programming with over 100 million hours viewed and programming 7 days a week. tastytrade offers over 100 original segments for new and seasoned veteran traders. tastytrade’s data driven research-based content teaches a logical, mechanical approach to investing and identifying opportunities based on probability and volatility. Investors are continually challenged with financial math, humor and new market perspectives.
tastytrade is the parent company to tastyworks, a brokerage firm creating and leading a financial revolution for the do-it-yourself investor and dough, a mobile-first brokerage firm radically challenging the status quo and changing wealth creation and the Quiet Foundation, a data science-driven, investment advisory service launched in 2018. tastytrade is also an ‘incubator’ of other fintech companies, including, The Small Exchange, a futures exchange platform focused on retail traders launched in 2020, and investor in Zero Hash, a crypto-currency infrastructure provider.
1 Excluding 10pm Friday (GMT) to 8am Saturday (GMT)
2 Based on revenue excluding FX (from published financial statements, June 2020)
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