BGC Partners To Ramp Up Investment In ELX Futures Exchange

The top executive of BGC Partners Inc. (BGCP) said Friday the brokerage would step up its investment in ELX Futures LP as other investors in the derivatives exchange trim their stakes.

New York-based ELX began trading interest-rate futures 2 1/2 years ago in a challenge to sector leader CME Group Inc. (CME), but its gains in market share have been small, and Chief Executive Neal Wolkoff departed ELX last month.

"We are committed to and we like ELX for the future," said Howard Lutnick, chairman and co-chief executive of BGC, among the original backers of ELX and supplier of the exchange's technology.

"Mathematically, we are investing more money and planned to invest more money in the company," Lutnick told analysts on a conference call Friday discussing BGC's fourth-quarter results. "And therefore, by definition, our stake will go up and the current shareholder stakes will go down."

Other owners of ELX Futures include banks like Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Deutsche Bank (DB), as well as trading firms such as Getco LLC and Peak6 Investments Inc.

In January ELX hired Richard Jaycobs to succeed Wolkoff as CEO. Jaycobs previously led Cantor Exchange, a platform that aimed to list futures on box-office receipts that was backed by Cantor Fitzgerald. BGC Partners separated from Cantor in 2004. Lutnick is also chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com

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