BGC Partners, a division of US broker Cantor Fitzgerald, has bought ETC Pollak Prebon, a Paris-based brokerage firm, for an undisclosed sum. The deal will make BGC, which was founded last year, the number three interdealer broker in terms of headcount.
French press reports estimate the deal to be worth between €15m and €18m.
The selling shareholders included IT service company 3S Informatique, which held 41.38%, E Finance, the holding entity for ETC, with 53.70%, and French investment firm Alter Finance which previously held a 4.92% stake in the company.
BGC’s move follows rival Prebon Yamane’s exit from the Paris-based firm. Prebon sold its 12% stake in Pollack for an undisclosed amount last year when it was taken over by broker Collins Stewart Tullett.
The Paris-based brokerage’s 140 staff will continue to work under the ETC Pollak banner, and chief executive Gilles Aupin will continue to head the French business, reporting to BGC’s head of continental Europe, Jean-Pierre Aubin.
The deal is BGC’s second this year. In May it bought the US-listed Maxcor, taking on the firm’s 500 broking staff in New York and London.
The latest deal will bring BGC’s total headcount to 1,600, narrowly behind that employed by the second-largest interdealer brokerage, Tullett Prebon.
In a statement issued by the company, BGC said it planned further expansion in Europe, particularly in Germany and Luxembourg, as well as in Asia. The firm said it was also considering expanding in emerging markets.