London Stock Exchange buys TORA for $325 million in digital asset push

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) announced on Tuesday it has struck a deal to acquire trading tech solutions provider TORA for $325 million. 

The deal includes TORA's tech for order and execution management systems and portfolio management systems for customers trading equities, as well as infrastructure for fixed income, currencies, derivatives and digital assets. 

In a release, the exchange said the deal strengthens its presence in a "rapidly expanding asset class, at a time when institutional market participants are increasing exposure to crypto and other digital assets."

Following completion, which is expected in the second half of the year, TORA will be part of LSEG’s data and analytics division.

Andrea Remyn Stone, group head of data and analytics at LSEG, said the deal will give customers a "global, multi-asset class financial infrastructure that operates across the capital markets and investment lifecycle as an open ecosystem."

The push by LSEG comes as traditional financial institutions are at pains to show they can offer customers exposure to the growing digital asset ecosystem. In January this year, TP ICAP, the world's biggest interdealer broker, launched crypto ETPs, a way for firms to gain exposure to crypto assets without directly touching them.