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Refco Announces Acquisition of Lind-Waldock & Co.
New York, NY and Chicago, IL-January 7, 2000-Refco Group, a world
leader in providing institutional risk management and investment
services, and Lind-Waldock & Company, the world's largest discount
futures brokerage firm, announced today that Refco Group will acquire
Lind-Waldock, pending regulatory approval. Refco Group is the parent
company of Refco, Inc., one of the world's largest registered futures
commission merchants. Lind-Waldock will continue as a clearing member
of major exchanges, and will operate as a separate entity.
Phil Bennett, Chief Executive Officer of Refco Group, said, "We are
delighted to have come to an agreement to add Lind-Waldock & Co, the
world's largest futures discount operation, to our corporate family.
Lind-Waldock has been in business for thirty-five years, has operated
very successfully throughout its history, has developed a market
leadership role in online trading and has earned a reputation of the
highest integrity in the futures industry." Bennett also announced
that Joe Murphy, President of Refco, Inc. and EVP of Refco Group,
will assume an active role at Lind-Waldock. Murphy said,
"Lind-Waldock will be an integral part of Refco's global strategy of
providing clients with an effective portal to market information and
liquidity. The acquisition will enable Refco to benefit from the
growth in the activity and importance of the individual investor, who
is increasingly sophisticated and turning to the Internet as a
research and trading tool."
Barry Lind, Chairman of Lind-Waldock who will continue to act as
Chairman of the separate entity, said "We see a great future in
futures. This agreement will give us the resources to take the steps
necessary-particularly increasing investment in technology- to
maintain our position as the premier organization in the retail
field. Right now, just under half of our orders are entered online,
and we see the trend to online futures trading, and the use of
technology by the individual investor, growing."
The combined U.S. customer equity of the two companies at
approximately $2.1 billion would place the newly joined firms 6th in
the rankings of brokers prepared by Futures Magazine in 1999. The
Refco-Lind union also creates the world's largest non-banking FCM. In
addition to its U.S. client equity, the combined entities hold more
than $800 million in non-U.S. customer positions.
Refco, Inc. is a member of principal U.S. and international
exchanges, and one of the most active members of futures exchanges in
Chicago, New York, London, Frankfurt, Paris, and Singapore. Refco
Group, Ltd. Is a diversified financial services organization with
operations in 13 countries and an extensive global institutional
client base. Refco Group has recently completed a number of
significant management changes. Among other moves, Dennis Klejna,
former director of the Enforcement Division of the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission, has joined Refco Group, Ltd. and Refco, Inc., as
general counsel. William Sexton, former Chase Manhattan Bank Futures
Company executive, and most recently, New York Board of Trade
director of electronic products and market development, has joined as
Chief Operating Officer of Refco, Inc.
In addition to its futures brokerage activities, Refco is a major
broker of cash market products including foreign exchange and
securities. Refco also maintains a significant presence in asset
management through its Forstmann-Leff and Tilney (U.K.) subsidiaries.
Lind-Waldock & Co. is the world's largest discount futures firm, and
a member of principal U.S. exchanges. It also is a non-clearing
member of the London International Financial Futures and Options
Exchange (LIFFE) and Eurex, the European derivatives exchange.
Lind-Waldock has headquarters in Chicago, and operations in New York,
London and, through an affiliate, in Hong Kong. Lind-Waldock offers
self-directed trading, broker-assisted trading, systems trading, and
managed futures, as well as execution and clearing services for
financial institutions and other brokerages. It was one of the first
firms to offer online futures trading to retail customers.
Lind-Waldock is a privately owned company.
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