The Joint Venture - The NASDAQ Private Market - Intends to Enhance the Efficiency and Control of the Market for Private Shares
Pre-IPO Market Will be Open to All Broker-Dealers
NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO, March 6, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and SharesPost, Inc. announced today a joint venture that will establish the preeminent marketplace for private growth companies. The venture combines NASDAQ OMX's market and operating expertise as well as resources with SharesPost's leading web-based platform.
The NASDAQ Private Market (NPM) will provide improved access to liquidity for early investors, founders and employees while enabling the efficient buying and selling of private company shares. While NASDAQ will retain a majority stake in the venture, specific terms of the joint venture were not disclosed.
"The support of entrepreneurs is a fundamental element of our DNA at NASDAQ OMX," said Bruce Aust, EVP of NASDAQ OMX. "The NASDAQ Private Market will provide private companies additional flexibility as they plan for their future and, at the same time, bring the investment community unique opportunities. By combining our resources, expertise and reach with SharesPost's established technology, we will bring scale, efficiency and transparency to this marketplace."
An increasing number of companies are choosing to remain private longer, which requires an efficient means to access liquidity for employees and investors. NPM will offer a complete, end-to-end solution that will enable a private company to control the marketplace for its shares. Transactions on NPM will meet NASDAQ OMX's industry-leading standards for security, compliance and client support.
"NASDAQ OMX has a long history of pioneering capital markets solutions for companies and creating more efficient markets," said SharesPost Founder, Greg Brogger. "Its dedication to that mission, and SharesPost's best-in-class trading platform, will create a new kind of private market and will help NPM solve the critical challenges facing today's private companies."
NPM will launch later this year pending regulatory approvals, with Greg Brogger as President, and will be based in San Francisco. SharesPost's broker dealer and RIA businesses will continue to operate separately from the joint venture.
About NASDAQ OMX Group
The inventor of the electronic exchange, The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., fuels economies and provides transformative technologies for the entire lifecycle of a trade - from risk management to trade to surveillance to clearing. In the U.S. and Europe, we own and operate 26 markets including 3 clearinghouses and 5 central securities depositories supporting equities, options, fixed income, derivatives, commodities, futures and structured products. Able to process more than 1 million messages per second at sub-55 microsecond average speeds with 99.99% uptime, our technology drives more than 70 marketplaces in 50 developed and emerging countries into the future, powering 1 in 10 of the world's securities transactions. Our award-winning data products and worldwide indexes are the benchmarks in the financial industry. Home to approximately 3,300 listed companies worth $6 trillion in market cap whose innovations shape our world, we give the ideas of tomorrow access to capital today. Welcome to where the world takes a big leap forward, daily. Welcome to the NASDAQ OMX Century. To learn more, visit www.nasdaqomx.com. Follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/NASDAQ) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/nasdaqomx). (Symbol: NDAQ and member of S&P 500)
ABOUT SHARESPOST
SharesPost is the market for today's fast-growing private companies, their shareholders and qualified investors. SharesPost represents companies who wish to conduct managed liquidity programs and raise primary capital online; provides investors access to private companies through direct investments and managed funds; offers shareholders liquidity options; and empowers option holders to exercise their options.
With a listing of over 200 fast-growing companies, an extensive network of investors assembled in one place online, and a broad offering of independent, third-party research and customized products and services, SharesPost brings greater efficiency, flexibility, and control to the process of raising capital, and buying or selling shares in the private capital market. SharesPost's management team includes experienced executives from the financial services, banking, legal, technology and security sectors, with concentrated expertise in working with emerging industry leaders.
SharesPost is a registered broker-dealer, a member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit www.sharespost.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that are made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about The NASDAQ Private Market and NASDAQ OMX's other businesses, products and offerings. We caution that these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond NASDAQ OMX's control. These factors include, but are not limited to factors detailed in NASDAQ OMX's annual report on Form 10-K, and periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements.
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