Citadel Securities sells $1.15bn stake as it eyes up global expansion
Electronic trading firm Citadel Securities has sold a $1.15bn stake to two leading venture capital investors as the firm reportedly gears up for international expansion.
The investment by Sequoia Capital and crypto investor Paradigm value Citadel Securities at $22bn and represent the first time the firm has taken on outside investors, the Wall Street Journal first eported. Sequoia partner Alfred Lin will also join Citadel Securities’ board.
Embed from Getty ImagesCitadel, run by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, says the sale of the stake will give it the capital needed to drive a global expansion and could lay the foundation for a listing this year, although Citadel said there are no plans to launch one imminently.
The electronic broker acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers and handles about 27% of the shares that change hands in the U.S. stock market each day, according to the Citadel’s website.
Much of the broker’s business comes from processing trades for online brokerages such as Robinhood which have seen a boom in trading volumes through the pandemic and sent Citadel’s revenues soaring.
In 2020, net trading revenue at Citadel was $6.7 billion, almost double the previous high in 2018.