Royalblue Group Plc, the company behind the world leading solution for multi-asset trading systems, market data and global connectivity, Fidessa, announced that it has agreed to acquire LatentZero Limited, a privately owned, leading supplier of front-office software to investment managers.

LatentZero will continue to operate as a separate entity within the Royalblue group and the existing management team, including co-founder and CEO Richard Jones and co-founder and directorDan Watkins, will remain in place as part of the transaction.

Formed in 1999 and headquartered in the UK, LatentZero is a leading supplier of front-office software to the asset management industry and counts several of the world’s largest asset management firms amongst its 75 clients. With offices in London, Boston, New York and Paris, LatentZero employs around 170 staff and provides software for fund manager decision support, order management, execution management and investment compliance. 

The maximum total consideration for the acquisition is £63m comprising an initial consideration of £38m and deferred consideration for each of the calendar years 2007 and 2008.

Chris Aspinwall, Chief Executive of royalblue, commentED “This transaction delivers on royalblue’s well documented strategy to provide the best products and services to both the buy-side and sell-side communities. Providing this unparalleled solution to market participants will open up significant new business opportunities for us across the world.” 

“We welcome LatentZero’s staff and proven buy-side experience, and look forward to collectively taking our business to the next level.”

Richard Jones, Chief Executive of LatentZero, added “We are very excited at the prospect of working together with royalblue to develop an integrated buy-side and sell-side business. The products and services that royalblue offers match closely what our buy-side customers are asking for and this transaction will enable LatentZero to accelerate its strategy of delivering connectivity services, market data and analytics to its customers as well as expanding its geographic reach, scale and support services.”

“The combination of our products positions us very well in the fast moving investment and trading landscape and we look forward to working with royalblue as we develop these opportunities together.“