PENSERRA SECURITIES TO OFFER ACCESS TO BIDS TRADING ATS

Posted August 20, 2008

NEW YORK – Agency broker Penserra Securities has added direct access for its clients to BIDS Trading, an alternative trading system (ATS) serving the equity block trading market. Penserra customers can now directly source block liquidity in the BIDS Trading ATS

“We’re very excited to be able to provide our clients with sponsored access to the non-displayed liquidity in BIDS Trading,” says George Madrigal, Managing Director and co-founder of Penserra, and a 13-year veteran of Barclays Global Investors, where he served as a portfolio manager and Head of Transition Management. “In addition to our brokerage experience, our management team has deep roots on the buy side, so we truly understand the value of direct access to a venue like BIDS Trading that allows for anonymous, block executions.”

Penserra is the first government-certified minority business enterprise (MBE) offering sponsored institutional access to BIDS Trading. Institutions with MBE target can boost their use of MBEs with Penserra’s new capability, and not have to avoid direct-access options.

“The connection of Penserra to our block trading facility furthers our goal of creating the most efficient trading venue and deepest liquidity pool possible,” says Tim Mahoney, Chief Executive Officer of BIDS Trading. “We are truly pleased to provide investors using Penserra with the ability to access BIDS Trading’s open, flexible platform.”

Volume on the BIDS Trading ATS has reached more than 5.89 billion shares since its launch in 2007, with average daily volumes reaching 24.65 million shares in July 2008.