A financial technology company and fixed-income distribution firm have merged to bring high tech to fixed-income investments, the two firms announced.
The new firm, to be known as InspereX, is being designed to improve the distribution and trading of fixed-income investments. The firms creating the new entity are Incapital, an underwriter and distributor of fixed-income and market-linked securities based in Palm Beach County, Fla., and 280 CapMarkets, a technology company in San Francisco that provides trading support and price transparency.
Terms of the merger, which is expected to be completed by the end of March, were not released. The merger of the two firms’ broker-dealer businesses will take place later this year.
“InspereX will bring clarity to a segment of the industry that previously had relatively opaque products,” David Rudd, 280 CapMarkets president and co-founder, said in an interview today. “It will provide access to more data, best practices and support to a broader base of advisors.
“We will empower fiduciaries to better serve their clients,” he added.
Incapital has experience in fixed-income and market-linked product origination, underwriting, trading, sales and distribution. It was founded by Tim Rickets, chairman of the Chicago Cubs, in 2000. 280 CapMarkets was co-founded by technologists and bond veterans including Gurinder S. Ahluwalia and David Rudd in 2016 to bring digital technology to fixed-income markets.
Ricketts, who is chairman of Incapital, said in a statement that access to fixed-income markets has improved over the years with technology but that accelerated action is needed, which the merger can address.
“The business strategy for InspereX will combine Incapital’s market knowledge, diverse products, strong distribution relationships and capital strength with the power of 280 CapMarkets’ leading-edge technologies, including the revolutionary BondNav—the first cloud-native bond aggregation platform,” the firms said in a release.
By aggregating fixed-income markets, InspereX will promote access to fixed-income investments across asset classes; price transparency driven by cloud technology, and liquidity and execution support targeting price improvements.
For fixed-income issuers, InspereX will offer the benefits of market depth, liquidity and targeted distribution to a range of clients, making it easier to diversify sources of funding and lower borrowing costs, the two firms said.
The combined firm will have approximately 200 employees in offices across the United States. John DesPrez, now Incapital CEO, will serve as CEO of InspereX and Ricketts will serve as chairman. Rudd will become president of InspereX.