CHICAGO, March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Archipelago Holdings, Inc. , the owner and operator of the Archipelago Exchange(R) (ArcaEx(R)), today announced the company has completed the sale of Wave Securities LLC, its wholly owned introducing broker subsidiary, to Merrill Lynch, Fenner & Smith Inc. .
"For five years now, Wave Securities has provided exceptional service to the institutional community," said Jerry Putnam, CEO of Archipelago. "We were proud to have such a great team within Archipelago Holdings and wish them the best as they join Merrill Lynch."
Separately, Archipelago's sale of Archipelago Brokerage Services LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Archipelago Holdings, to Order Execution Services Holdings, Inc. (OES) also closed earlier this week. The sale of both Wave Securities and Archipelago Brokerage Services by Archipelago was obligated by an order of the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of Archipelago's acquisition of the Pacific Exchange, Inc., in September 2005.
About Archipelago
Archipelago Holdings, Inc. operates the Archipelago Exchange(R) (ArcaEx(R)) the first totally open all-electronic stock exchange in the United States. ArcaEx trades all Nasdaq-listed equity securities and exchange listed equity securities, including those listed on the New York Stock Exchange(R), American Stock Exchange(R), and ArcaEx. In April 2005, The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Archipelago announced that they have entered a definitive merger agreement that will lead to the combined entity, NYSE Group, Inc. In addition to offering core execution services, ArcaEx provides corporate clients with listing services and innovative data products. In September 2005, Archipelago acquired PCX Holdings, Inc., parent company of the Pacific Exchange and PCX Equities, Inc. allowing Archipelago to bring together the all-electronic trading of equity securities and options products thereby expanding and diversifying Archipelago's business lines. For more information please visit http://www.archipelago.com/.
Archipelago Contact
Margaret Nagle
312-442-7083
