JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Mantara, Inc., a provider of advanced ultra-low latency trading solutions, today announced that it has acquired UNX LLC, a supplier of innovative broker-neutral EMS technology. High-frequency traders and others can now benefit from access to an open and flexible EMS coupled with Mantara's flagship pre-trade risk functionality and ultra-low latency direct market access.

UNX's Catalyst® execution management system, provides an open, scalable broker-neutral EMS and electronic trading platform that streamlines trader workflow with seamless access to its companion Marketplace that hosts diversified products and services from 3rd-party vendors, information providers, exchanges, ATSs, and broker-dealers.

Designed for flexibility, performance and usability, Catalyst's open-API framework delivers a fully extensible and customizable desktop trading environment. Its powerful front end enables traders to extend their capabilities and easily customize or create functionality to achieve trading objectives and execute strategies. The Marketplace provides a virtual financial apps store for research, news and media feeds, and trading tools, algorithms, order routing and analytics from brokerages and investment banks.

The purchase comes amidst an industry-wide trend towards independent, cost-effective, broker-neutral, cloud solutions that can be rapidly deployed and provide flexibility, ease-of-customization and help to reduce trading costs. Mantara takes this trend one step forward and incorporates the demand for high performance as a key requirement for traders today.

Tabb Group's Director of Research, Adam Sussman, commented on the news, "Financial institutions are finding it harder than ever to be first to the market, both in terms of low-latency solutions but also how long it takes to deploy. Institutions need an infrastructure that lets them respond to market dynamics, regulatory intervention and client demands more quickly than ever, developments like Mantara's aim to do that."

Known for its ultra-low latency expressWay™ infrastructure, Mantara has gained strong support across the high-frequency trading community with its comprehensive pre-trade risk offering experiencing rising popularity among market participants looking to meet recent and anticipated pre-trade regulatory requirements and manage risk across multiple trading venues.

"Driven by client demand for a next generation EMS coupled with our state-of-the-art risk system, we sought technology based on a shared philosophy," said Mantara President and CEO, Michael Chin.  "UNX's innovative Catalyst suite shares the same guiding principles underlying our ultra-low latency technology." 

Further commenting on the union, Chin added, "We are extremely excited by the prospects for our combined offering and believe that together we bring a compelling solution that meets the rapidly evolving trading and compliance requirements of the buy and sell side amidst this challenging market environment."

Mantara and UNX share strong product and client synergies, delivering independent, broker-neutral software-as-a-service solutions, based on intuitive, easily deployable, open and flexible technology. The shared client base represents a solid balance of broker-dealers, hedge funds and propriety traders committed to implementing next-generation, customizable solutions that leverage the latest technology advancements. 

Operating out of Los Angeles and New York, the UNX team will be fully integrated across Mantara's client-facing organization with a unified focus on delivering best-of-breed, future-ready solutions to a rapidly expanding global client base.

Broadhaven Capital Partners served as financial advisor and Crowell & Moring served as legal counsel to UNX. Lowenstein Sandler served as legal counsel to Mantara.

About Mantara
Headquartered in Jersey City, NJ, Mantara, Inc. is transforming securities trading worldwide through the development and delivery of integrated ultra-low latency desktop trading and pre- at and post-trade risk solutions. With its next-generation, broker-neutral Catalyst EMS and expressWay trading infrastructure, Mantara is paving the way with innovative solutions that meet the rapidly evolving requirements of the global trading community. For more information on Mantara, visit www.mantara.com

Mantara, expressWay and Catalyst are registered trademarks of Mantara, Inc. in the United States.

SOURCE Mantara, Inc.