Appital

Appital launches ‘Trending Equities’ to drive opportunistic buyside liquidity

• An industry first, the new functionality means that Appital technology now proactively stimulates market liquidity ahead of the event
• Gives buyside traders and portfolio managers exposure to deals that may launch imminently
• Enables deal originators to stimulate the market before launching a deal

London 22 April 2024: Appital, the peer-to-peer price discovery and liquidity sourcing technology for asset managers, today announced the launch of a new functionality designed to drive opportunistic liquidity.

‘Appital Trending Equities’ is an industry-first, innovative functionality within Appital Insights™ that enables deal originators on the buyside to proactively stimulate unique liquidity in the market ahead of launching a deal. At the same time, participating buyside firms gain exposure to deals that may launch imminently on the platform, in equities that are relevant to them and meet their minimum ADV or pricing thresholds.

This new functionality unlocks latent liquidity, drives the bookbuilding process and allows trading desks and PMs to become more opportunistic. They are now able to generate orders in the market that would otherwise not exist, resulting in liquidity events that are not occurring elsewhere.

Mark Badyra, CEO, Appital, said: “In today’s fragmented market, the likelihood of having natural market contras at size, in multiple days ADV, which also match price ambitions, is incredibly unlikely. What’s more, matching technology alone is no longer enough.

With our latest innovation, Appital Trending Equities, we solve this problem. Buyside trading desks will receive a list of trending equities within the Appital platform, which they can discuss with their PMs to identify opportunities they wish to participate in. Traders and portfolio managers are empowered to discover and react to deal flow opportunities that are unique in the market, and generate alpha themselves.”

This new functionality includes PMs in the deal flow and solves key challenges around decreasing liquidity in the lit market, reliance on the market close and a general reduction in high-touch sales trading and the associated liquidity opportunities.

‘Appital Trending Equities’ is now live and in use by asset managers who are already onboarded and using the Appital platform, gaining significant momentum. Approximately 50 indications have been discovered by opportunistic portfolio management teams totalling over $1bn in potential liquidity.

Predictions about liquidity events are generated from Appital Insights™, which was launched in Q4 2023 and allows buyside institutions to assess the viability of executing larger ADV orders without alerting the market.

Brian Guckian, Chief Business Development Officer, Appital, added: “Appital Trending Equities is becoming a valuable source of liquidity creation for the market. This is another milestone in our mission to be at the forefront of technological innovation in the equity market and deliver unique functionality to the buyside, unlike anything they have seen before.

We have seen great traction due to our neutral market position and the trust in our platform. Asset managers are happy to share responses to Appital because we are not conflicted on the data and insights and deal originators can better manage their risk before launching a bookbuild.”

To date, more than 40 asset managers with more than $15trn AUM are clients of Appital, with 60+ more in the onboarding stage, managing an additional $30trn AUM.

ENDS

About Appital

Appital, the equity markets technology solution, unlocks latent liquidity and provides enhanced bookbuilding capabilities to institutional investors.

Appital allows the buyside community to gain greater exposure to deal flow and execution opportunities they have not been able to access before and interact with like-minded institutions in the liquidity discovery and price formation process. Asset Managers are able to proactively source cross-border liquidity or interact with natural liquidity that is relevant to them, ranging from large cap equities to highly illiquid, small and mid-cap stocks.

The Appital platform efficiently drives a bookbuilding process, providing institutional investors with opportunities to execute large volumes, often in excess of multiple days of ADV, with minimal market impact or risk of price erosion.

Appital Insights™ allows buyside institutions to gain feedback on the likelihood to launch a successful bookbuild, without alerting anyone within the market or risking price erosion, as well as allowing traders and PMs to gain passive exposure in equities they care about when considering minimum ADV ambitions and/or pricing thresholds.

Appital’s deal distribution methodology is highly efficient, unbiased and unconflicted, delivering a fair outcome for all market participants. Members of Appital’s buyside community have access to real-time visibility, full transparency and maximum control over the bookbuilding and deal distribution process.

The Appital platform is easy to access, embedded and integrated with leading EMS providers, and executing brokers Instinet and Bernstein. Deals are executed through the Turquoise MTF, via a single point of access and with seamless straight-through processing to over 20 settlement venues. For more information please visit our website and follow us on Twitter @AppitalHQ and LinkedIn.