American Broker TradeStation Will Go Public with a SPAC Merger

Online broker TradeStation, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Japanese giant Monex Group, has announced on Thursday that it will go public through a merger with an American blank-check company.

The broker has already inked a deal with Quantum FinTech Acquisition Corporation, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and the combined valuation of the merged entity will touch around $1.43 billion.

The deal will be financed by approximately $201 million in cash held by the SPAC’s trust account and $115 million raised from anchor investors, including Monex and Galaxy Digital LP, a unit of Galaxy Digital Holdings. 

At the closure of the deal, which is expected to be in the first half of 2022, Monex will hold 80 percent of the American broker.

Monex bought TradeStation 2011 for $400 million, thus entering the lucrative American brokerage market. The platform provides brokerage services for stocks, equity and index options, futures options and even cryptocurrencies.

A Planned Move

The announcement of the SPAC deal came after Monex recently stated that it is going to raise funds for the US brokerage arm for further expansion. The funds obtained from the public listing will be utilized towards its marketing spend. In addition, it is planning to increase its headcount to boost research and development of new products.

“This transaction is an exciting new chapter in the ongoing story of TradeStation as an innovator that supports traders and investors seeking to claim their financial edge,” said John Bartleman, TradeStation’s President and CEO.

“In recent years our appeal has grown from seasoned active traders to include a new generation of traders and investors who are drawn to TradeStation’s powerful analytics and order-entry tools to help them identify opportunities, plot and test trading strategies and execute those strategies on a trusted, reliable and versatile platform.”

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