BGC Partners Completes Acquisition of Liquidez in Brazil

Eyeing expansion in Latin America, BGC Partners, Inc. completed the acquisition of Liquidez DTVM Ltda, a Brazilian inter-dealer broker of foreign exchange, derivatives, commodities, equities , and interest-rate products.

Founded in 1985, Liquidez is among Brazil’s top inter-dealer brokers, accounting for 13.7 percent of all contracts traded in May 2009 on the BM&F segment of BM&FBOVESPA. The Brazilian Mercantile & Futures Exchange (BM&F) recently merged with BOVESPA to create BM&FBOVESPA, the worlds’ fourth largest exchange by market capitalization, according to the Financial Times, stated the release.

The deal is an important step for BGC Partners, a global inter-dealer broker, as it looks to increase its presence in Latin America, said the company in its release. Brazil is the largest market in the region and continues to grow despite challenging conditions in global financial markets. Achieving over 5 percent per capita GDP growth in 2009, according to the IMF.

“We are very pleased to have finalized this deal with Liquidez. Liquidez has a long and impressive track record in Brazil and a highly professional team of brokers,” stated Lee Amaitis, vice chairman of BGC Partners, Inc., in the release. In his statement, Amaitis said that Latin America is a key area of growth for BGC and Brazil is a particularly attractive market for BGC, given its continued growth and strong fundamentals.

In the release. Arnaldo Cezar Coelho, president and CEO of Liquidez, commented, “ BGC’s global reach and sophisticated proprietary technology opens up tremendous opportunities for our Brazilian clients, giving them access to BGC’s extensive range of products and significant liquidity.” He noted “BGC’s global customers will also have access to local products on the Brazilian Exchange, increasing business for the Brazilian markets.”

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