Nasdaq, SVB, Citi, Goldman, Morgan Stanley set up JV for private co stock trading
Nasdaq, SVB Financial Group (SVB), Citi, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley today announced a joint venture to establish an institutional-grade, centralized secondary trading venue for issuers, brokers, shareholders and prospective investors of private company stock.
Nasdaq Private Market will be contributed to a standalone, independent company, which will receive strategic investments from SVB, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.
Nasdaq Private Market’s existing technology, client relationships, and regulatory infrastructure will provide a strong foundation for the joint venture to develop a full suite of liquidity solutions for private companies.
Private companies, brokers and investors will be able to access, connect, manage and execute their private company stock transactions through a global marketplace and customized technology solutions. These tailored solutions allow private companies, brokers, and investors to have increased transparency into their program and trade criteria.
The platform will continue to manage and support private company stock transactions including tender offers, buyside book-building, auctions, investor block trades, company directed windows of liquidity and pre-direct listing continuous trading. In addition, the platform will provide end-to-end settlement process management and an inter-broker global marketplace through its existing alternative trading system for all customers from employees to institutions to access and transact.
These new capabilities will help fulfill unmet market demand and provide a more transparent and efficient offering for private companies, their employees and investors looking for access to private assets. The platform will build a unique distribution network, leveraging the joint venture partners’ strong relationships with private companies and investors. In addition, institutional investor participation will be enhanced through the platform’s broker-sponsored and broker-neutral design, which is open to qualified broker-dealers.
The joint venture will serve a large and growing market for private company secondary liquidity and will build upon Nasdaq Private Market’s existing franchise and technology so clients can use one platform to transact with confidence.
Nasdaq Private Market’s core operating team will remain in place with its bicoastal presence in New York and San Francisco. The team has a unique knowledge base, extensive regulatory management expertise, and has grown Nasdaq Private Market into the leading provider for private company tender offer liquidity over the last five years.
Team members have cultivated close relationships with more than 250 leading private companies worldwide, facilitated 477 private company transactions serving 59,000 shareholders, and have executed more than $30 billion in transaction volume for many of the world’s largest private companies. The team is expected to invest to add additional expertise in key growth areas.