Financial Technology Partners Advises Tora Trading in its Minority Capital Raise With Goldman Sachs

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Feb 23, 2010, 07:10 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Financial Technology Partners LP and FTP Securities LLC (together, "FT Partners"), is pleased to announce another significant internationally-focused transaction in the securities and financial technology sector, serving as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Tora Holdings ("Tora") in its completion of a minority capital raise with The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS). Tora is Asia's leading provider of advanced trading technology and financial services.

The investment will support Tora's rapid growth and its continued geographic expansion, and highlights the continued focus on Asia as a meaningful region of growth for the foreseeable future.

"This investment by Goldman Sachs in Tora's business is a significant milestone for the company and its management team," said Steve McLaughlin, Managing Partner and Founder of Financial Technology Partners. "Robert Dykes has done an outstanding job of building the business and creating tremendous value in one of the most challenging of global markets."

"We are excited to close this investment and to take the next step in our expansion," said Robert Dykes, CEO of Tora. "Steve and the FT Partners team have been a trusted partner for Tora through this entire process. Their guidance on structuring this transaction and helping to connect us with a premier investor was critical to making this transaction an overwhelming success for all involved."

This strategic financing demonstrates FT Partners' ability to establish strong relationships with top financial technology firms around the globe and assist them in achieving their long-term strategic goals.

FT Partners was named "Investment Bank of the Year" in 2004 and 2006, and was also recognized as "DealMaker of the Year" in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Selected FT Partners Transactions:

$680 mm sale of Automated Trading Desk to Citigroup
$250 mm minority capital raise for Liquidnet
$110 mm minority recapitalization for TradingScreen
$35 mm capital raise for MarketAxess
$200 mm sale of Wombat Financial Software to NYSE Euronext
$230 mm acquisition of MacGregor Group by ITG
Sale of 35% minority interest in Forex Capital Markets (FXCM)
$125 mm sale of LatentZero to Fidessa
Acquisition of TORC Financial by Instinet

About Financial Technology Partners LP and FTP Securities LLC

FT Partners is the only investment banking firm focused exclusively on providing strategic and financial advisory services to CEOs in the dynamic financial services and technology sector. The firm offers strategic advisory services in mission-critical transactions including mergers, acquisitions, IPOs, LBOs, refinancings, recapitalizations and private capital raisings. FT Partners' Managing Partner, Steve McLaughlin formerly was a senior investment banker in Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s (NYSE: GS) Financial Technology Group and was the senior investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group in San Francisco before leaving the firm to form FT Partners in late 2001. San Francisco-based FT Partners is comprised of a team of experienced investment bankers formerly with the financial technology, M&A and investment banking groups of Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Banc of America Securities. FT Partners and Steve McLaughlin were recognized in 2009 by The M&A Advisor as "Dealmaker of the Year". The firm has also been recognized as "Investment Banking Firm of the Year" in 2004 and again in 2006 for "Boutique Investment Banking Firm of the Year." Steve McLaughlin was also named in 2006, 2007 and again in 2008 to Institutional Investor's "Online Finance 40" ranking of most influential leaders in online finance. Any securities related transactions contemplated by or acted upon hereunder are conducted by FTP Securities LLC, a FINRA broker-dealer and a wholly owned subsidiary of Financial Technology Partners LP. For additional information, please visit www.ftpartners.com.

About Tora Holdings

Tora is Asia's leading provider of advanced trading technology and financial services. Tora's unrivalled solutions span the entire trading process, offering a full suite of trade execution capabilities in markets across Asia, North America and Europe. Tora's high-performance EMS/OMS has been designed from the ground up by traders, and is currently used by traders at hedge funds, long-only funds and sell-side proprietary trading desks. Tora also provides clients with access to its unique liquidity pools including Asia's leading non-displayed matching engine. Tora's dedicated Asia trading desk delivers to buy-side clients unmatched Asia expertise and extensive analytics focused on best execution. Tora's extensive suite of proprietary algorithms (trading and strategy-focused) is fully customizable and broker neutral. Tora has over 175 employees dedicated to Asia, with offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Additional information is available at www.tora.com.