GMEX Group has acquired a 25 percent stake in Mauritius-based ALTX Africa group through its subsidiary GMEX Technologies.
ALTX owns ALT-Xchange Ltd, or ALTS Uganda, and ALT-X Clearing Ltd. The acquisition is part of a drive for growth through additional equity stakes, and ALTX is also in discussions with other prospective partners.
The acquisition extends the existing partnership between GMEX Tech and ALTX. GMEX Tech will provide its ForumMatch exchange trading platform, ForumDetect market surveillance system and ForumTrader workstation as a fully managed ‘exchange-in-a-box’ hosted solution.
The solution will connect ALTX to GMEX’s infrastructure in London, enabling access to international vendors and clients.
ALTX Uganda’s exchange application was accepted by the Ugandan regulator in March 2014. It is now in the first stages of establishing a network of interconnected exchanges in Africa, enabled by common exchange trading, and clearing and settlement technology.
This network will allow access to securities trading inside and outside of Africa, with a focus on primary and secondary market cash equities and bonds. It is now in an acceptance-testing phase, with various African and international trading firms connecting in preparation for the launch, which is scheduled for the beginning of May.
ALTX is also working with major banks to develop an exchange traded funds business in major commodity and equity offerings.
Hirander Misra, CEO and co-founder of GMEX Group has been appointed as non-executive director to the ALTX and ALTX Uganda Boards, and is also in the process of being appointed to the ALTX Clearing Board.
He said: “This investment in ALTX highlights our focus on African financial markets development to aid economic growth through a sustainable partnership driven model that is very different to the customer-supplier approach of our competitors.”
“This extends our current relationship, which is providing ALTX with the exchange technology infrastructure, network and business expertise to become the most technically advanced securities market operator in Africa.”
Joseph S. Kitamirike, CEO and co-founder of ALTX, said: “With the GMEX Group investment, we continue to lead the pan-African development and interconnection of Africa’s securities markets to attract global liquidity and extended market opportunities with best-in-class technology.
He added: “We are delighted to have successfully completed the first phase of our implementation of the exchange technology suite provided by GMEX TECH as a fully managed service and we are well on the way with the UAT, taking us towards our goal of launching ALTX Uganda by 1 May 2015.”
