Liquidnet has launched Targeted Invitations, the latest development in the firm’s strategy to help the buy side source deeply hidden institutional liquidity.
Initially launched in Europe late last year, Targeted Invitations is now also available in the US and Asia-Pacific, and has already exceeded USD1 billion traded.
Targeted Invitations allows qualifying Members to seek out additional block liquidity by sending actionable invitations within the Liquidnet community, while still keeping both sides anonymous. Only those with recent qualifying activity in the same symbol will receive Targeted Invitations. Unlike indications of interest (IOIs), Liquidnet’s Targeted Invitations are firm and committed orders and are available only to Members who fit the eligibility criteria, so that all participants can have confidence that their information is secure within Liquidnet.
“The success of Targeted Invitations globally represents Liquidnet taking on one of the last bastions of inefficiency for the buy side: the sales trading process,” says Seth Merrin (pictured), Founder and CEO of Liquidnet. “Targeted Invitations is another innovative tool we provide to our Members to source unique liquidity within our global community. It eliminates unnecessary information leakage by enabling traders to interact with eligible contras based on activity criteria of their choosing, and to partner with their portfolio managers in the alpha generation process.”
“Liquidnet’s focus has always been on creating block opportunities by unlocking otherwise hidden or latent liquidity. The launch of Targeted Invitations takes a trader’s ability to find block trading opportunities to a higher level, by extending Liquidnet’s traditional order matching model,” says Natasha Shamis, Global Head of Product at Liquidnet. “Having this feature available for Members across the globe has redefined the liquidity seeking process – we’re seeing Targeted Invitations matches across time zones and regions, which really distinguishes our offering from the traditional sales trading process.”
Launched on a staggered schedule starting with EMEA in November 2015, US in March 2016 and APAC in April 2016, Targeted Invitations is now available to over 320 global Member firms. Focused on the block, the average execution size globally is USD1.8 million, and the largest single execution to date is USD15.9 million.
