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TORONTO, March 12 (Reuters) - Aequitas Innovations Inc saidon Thursday it has completed a new round of capital raisingahead of the launch of its new stock exchange , which is set tobegin operations this month.
The Toronto-based firm said indications of interest fromboth founding shareholders and new shareholders representedclose to 150 percent of the amount Aequitas originally plannedto raise. It said the offering was distributed so as to ensure afair representation of all market participants and stakeholders.
Details on the amount of capital raised were not disclosed.
Aequitas' new shareholders that represent both investors andcapital-raising companies include Canadian pension fund managerBritish Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC), fundmanagers Davis Rea Ltd and Invesco Canada Ltd, and Chicago-basedprivate equity firm Vernon & Park Capital L.P.
It said new shareholders representing the dealer communityinclude Jones Gable & Co Ltd, Maison Placements Canada Inc and,BBS Securities Inc.
Other prominent investors include Don Ross, chair of JonesGable & Co; Vincent Chahley, former managing director ofTristone Capital Ltd; and Perry Dellelce, founder and managingpartner at Toronto-based law firm Wildeboer Dellelce LLP, amongothers.
"The over-subscription on our share offering gives us aclear vote of confidence," Jos Schmitt, chief executive ofAequitas, said in a statement, noting the new shareholder groupwas "strong and diversified".
Aequitas' Neo platform will offer trading, listings and,through one of its affiliates, related technology services. Itis looking to capture market share from and challenge TMX GroupLtd's dominant Toronto Stock Exchange and its TSX Ventureand Alpha platforms, along with other rivals like Chi-X and CX2.
Aequitas - a Latin term denoting fairness and the origin ofthe English word equity - is backed by Royal Bank of Canada, Barclays PLC, pension funds OMERS and PSP,mutual fund managers CI Financial Corp and IGMFinancial Inc, and Investment Technology Group Inc, among others.
The Aequitas model, which also includes plans for a privatemarketplace to fund early-stage companies, will attempt to limitcontroversial high-frequency trading strategies by implementingextra costs and speed bumps for them.
High-frequency traders use sophisticated algorithms to tradeshares in milliseconds. They make it easier for investors totrade by stepping in and taking the other sides of many ordersand profiting off of trading spreads.
Scrutiny around high-frequency trading intensified followinglast year's release of best-selling author Michael Lewis' book,"Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt." In the book, Lewis contendsthat high-frequency traders have rigged the stock market,profiting from speeds unavailable to others. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Alan Crosby)
