Bond trader Trumid expands its market with Electronifie purchase
Trumid has agreed to buy rival bond-trading platform Electronifie, boosting to more than 350 the number of institutions using the fixed-income trading and technology provider's Trumid Market Centre. The deal, a rare consolidation at a time of bond-trading decentralisation, follows the $28m acquisition of Trumid by investors including the CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund. Trumid President Mike Sobel said the company is aiming to make corporate bond trading easier.
Fixed income trading and technology provider Trumid is set to acquire all-to-all bond trading platform Electronifie in a bid to increase its bond trading network.

The acquisition will increase the size and diversity of the Trumid network and strengthen its team and product offering, the company said.

Following the close of the deal, over 350 institutions will be on board Trumid Market Centre, the all-to-all network for corporate bonds. Trumid said this includes 20 of the top 25 asset managers in the world and 60 broker-dealers.

Mike Sobel, president of Trumid, explained the firm strives to make corporate bond trading easier for market participants.

“The Electronifie team shares that vision and the combination of our networks will enhance the all-to-all liquidity available on the Trumid platform,” he said.

Trumid recently closed a $28 million capital raise with investors including the CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund.

The capital will be used to grow and develop new products, including the data science unit, Trumid Labs.

As of January this year there were 128 trading platforms available for fixed income trading, suggesting the explosion of new bond venues is yet to slow down.

The asset class is overcrowded with trading venues as regulation forces the structure of fixed income across instruments away from a centralised model – mostly due to bank balance sheet constraints – towards a decentralised model.

Market participants have said the explosion of venues is causing fragmentation and a ‘liquidity drought’ in global bond markets.

The merger is expected to close in the second quarter this year.