State Street Acquires BestX

State Street has acquired BestX, a software company that provides independent trade technology and TCA analytics.

The financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in Q3 subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval, are not being disclosed. Following the deal, BestX will sit within State Street’s Global Link product suite, which is run by Martine Bond, executive vice president and head of trading and clearing for State Street Global Markets.

“Over the past few years, Mifid II, combined with broader economic and political stresses in the market and great competition in the FX market, has meant that our clients are looking for greater transparency and ways to improve their performance and their returns to client and shareholders,” says Bond. “So we started to look at strategic partners that could really help us achieve those goals for our clients and that’s why in January this year we partnered with BestX to offer TCA solutions. We had an overwhelmingly positive response from both the buy side and sell side and it became obvious to us that the BestX team were very strategic in the way that they thought and understood that this isn’t just about post-trade TCA, there’s so much more that we can offer clients. So I think that this acquisition is really the formalisation of that partnership, which we want to take to the next stage and I think that our clients are going to be delighted with the direction that we’re taking.”