BATS Prices IPO and Prepares to Enter the Market

BATS Global Markets has filed an amended S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its initial public offering (IPO). The company will price its 13.3 million shares — originally 11.2 million — at $19 per share at the high end of the expected range of $17 to $19, with an overallotment option for an additional 1.995 million shares. At this price, the entire offering is valued up to $244.72 million. The company will list its shares on the BATS Exchange (BZX) under the symbol BATS and the shares are expected to start trading on Friday.

The underwriters for the offering are Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Jefferies, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Nomura, Rosenblatt Securities and Sandler O’Neill.

This leading global operator of securities exchanges and other electronic markets is enabled by world-class technology. The company provides trade execution, market data, trade reporting, connectivity and risk management solutions to brokers, market makers, asset managers and other market participants, ultimately benefiting retail and institutional investors across multiple asset classes.
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Its principal objective is to improve markets by maximizing efficiency and mitigating trade execution risk for market participants. Its asset class focus currently comprises listed cash equity securities in the United States and Europe, listed equity options in the United States and institutional spot FX globally, as well as exchange traded products (ETPs), including exchange traded funds (ETFs), in the United States and Europe. Trade execution comprised 44.6% of revenues less cost of revenues, and market data and connectivity, or non-transaction revenues, comprised 55.4% of revenues less cost of revenues for the year ended in December 2015.

The company is the second largest exchange operator in U.S.-listed cash equity securities trading by market share, the largest exchange operator of ETFs and other ETPs by market share, and the largest European exchange operator as measured by notional value traded. Additionally, for each of the six consecutive months ended in December 2015, excluding the Chinese exchanges, BATS were the largest equities market operator globally as measured by notional value traded. Moreover, during 2015 it operated the fastest growing market in the United States for exchange traded options as measured by market share.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to pay down its amended 2014 loan and for general corporate purposes.