Cboe Global Markets, Inc, a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, has completed its acquisition of Chi-X Asia Pacific Holdings, Ltd, an alternative market operator and provider of innovative market solutions. Through ownership of Chi-X Asia Pacific, Cboe gains entrance into two of the world’s largest securities markets – Japan and Australia – to establish a significant presence in the Asia Pacific region for the first time.

Through Chi-X Asia Pacific, Cboe now has the opportunity to bring new trading solutions and services to Asia Pacific, including extending the industry-leading block trading capabilities of BIDS Trading to the region. BIDS, acquired by Cboe in January 2021, operates the largest block trading ATS by volume in the U.S., and one of the largest block trading platforms in Europe. With BIDS’ current network covering U.S., Europe and expanding into Canada, the addition of Asia Pacific is expected to create a global block trading platform to serve an even broader base of customers.

Cboe plans to fully integrate Chi-X Asia Pacific into its existing global business operations and technology platforms, beginning with the integration of Chi-X Asia Pacific and BIDS. Chi-X Australia and Chi-X Japan are planned to migrate to Cboe’s state-of-the-art trading platform thereafter. Providing one, unified technology platform will help provide market participants greater access to Cboe’s diverse product set and more efficiency, resiliency and functionality when trading across Cboe’s markets.

Chi-X Asia Pacific positions Cboe to expand its global equities business into Asia Pacific and build an unparalleled, high value global market data business that is expected to offer data from major markets around the world, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and 18 European countries. In addition, Cboe plans to further broaden investor access to its unique suite of proprietary products – including U.S. index options products based on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) – to meet growing investor demand globally for U.S.-based derivatives products. Cboe plans to extend trading hours for SPX and VIX options to nearly 24 hours a day beginning November 21, subject to regulatory approval.

Cboe acquired Chi-X Asia Pacific from J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, however the company noted that the purchase price is not material from a financial perspective and is expected to be nominally accretive to the company’s adjusted earnings in 2021.

Cboe funded the transaction with cash on hand and borrowings under its term loan credit agreement. Chi-X Asia Pacific generated approximately USD 26 million in net revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2020, reflecting a 26 percent growth rate compared to the prior year, with non-transactional revenue comprising approximately 67 percent of the overall 2020 net revenue.