Financial and Business News

smartTrade to Buy BGC’s Analytics Unit kACE in $119M Deal to Build Unified Platform

Thursday, 11/12/2025 | 21:31 GMT by Jared Kirui
  • BGC said the sale will unlock shareholder value and allow it to focus on its Fenics platforms.
  • It includes an upfront payment of $80 million and up to $39 million in performance-linked consideration.
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smartTrade Technologies is set to acquire kACE Financial in a deal valued at up to $119 million, marking a major step in its plan to unify multi-asset trading and payments within one platform.

The French fintech, known for its electronic trading infrastructure, will fold kACE’s derivatives pricing and analytics into its ecosystem, expanding its reach across FX, fixed income, and digital assets.

Unifying Trading and Payments

The acquisition aims to strengthen smartTrade’s ambition to meet client demand for integrated, cross-asset workflows from analytics to execution. The combined platform will cover foreign exchange—including spot, forwards, swaps, and options—alongside fixed income, rates, cryptocurrencies, money markets, and structured products.

The new entity plans to speed up innovation through a deeper shift toward cloud services and AI-driven analytics. smartTrade will integrate kACE’s pricing and workflow tools into a SaaS model aimed at faster client onboarding, enhanced scalability, and lower infrastructure costs.

David Vincent, CEO, smartTrade Technologies

David Vincent, the CEO and Co-Founder at smartTrade, commented: “This is a transformational moment for our joint clients. kACE brings a world-class team and sophisticated FX derivatives technology that is highly complementary to our existing multi-asset trading and payments offering.”

“By integrating kACE’s deep derivatives expertise and cutting-edge analytics, we can now deliver even greater value to clients through a truly end-to-end solution that offers a clear competitive advantage.”

Delivering Value to Shareholders

On the seller’s side, BGC Group said the transaction supports its strategy of unlocking shareholder value and investing in high-growth technology platforms. The company expects an upfront payment of $80 million plus up to $39 million in performance-linked consideration.

Read more: NAGA’s Stock to Shrink Tenfold in Reverse Split, Closing Gap With Peers

Co-CEO Sean Windeatt said the deal “positions kACE to enter an exciting new chapter as part of smartTrade” while allowing BGC to concentrate on scaling its Fenics platforms.

“This transaction delivers significant value for our shareholders and positions kACE to enter an exciting new chapter as part of smartTrade.”

The transaction is set to close by the end of 2025, subject to customary approvals. TA Associates will remain the majority investor in the combined smartTrade–kACE group, which now aims to redefine the landscape of multi-asset trading through a seamless, end-to-end digital infrastructure.

Recently, smartTrade Technologies migrated its trading infrastructure to Amazon Web Services as part of a broader modernization push under a new internal initiative called MetaCloud, which is designed to support hybrid cloud deployment while boosting flexibility, scalability, and automation across its trading and payments platforms.

smartTrade Technologies is set to acquire kACE Financial in a deal valued at up to $119 million, marking a major step in its plan to unify multi-asset trading and payments within one platform.

The French fintech, known for its electronic trading infrastructure, will fold kACE’s derivatives pricing and analytics into its ecosystem, expanding its reach across FX, fixed income, and digital assets.

Unifying Trading and Payments

The acquisition aims to strengthen smartTrade’s ambition to meet client demand for integrated, cross-asset workflows from analytics to execution. The combined platform will cover foreign exchange—including spot, forwards, swaps, and options—alongside fixed income, rates, cryptocurrencies, money markets, and structured products.

The new entity plans to speed up innovation through a deeper shift toward cloud services and AI-driven analytics. smartTrade will integrate kACE’s pricing and workflow tools into a SaaS model aimed at faster client onboarding, enhanced scalability, and lower infrastructure costs.

David Vincent, CEO, smartTrade Technologies

David Vincent, the CEO and Co-Founder at smartTrade, commented: “This is a transformational moment for our joint clients. kACE brings a world-class team and sophisticated FX derivatives technology that is highly complementary to our existing multi-asset trading and payments offering.”

“By integrating kACE’s deep derivatives expertise and cutting-edge analytics, we can now deliver even greater value to clients through a truly end-to-end solution that offers a clear competitive advantage.”

Delivering Value to Shareholders

On the seller’s side, BGC Group said the transaction supports its strategy of unlocking shareholder value and investing in high-growth technology platforms. The company expects an upfront payment of $80 million plus up to $39 million in performance-linked consideration.

Read more: NAGA’s Stock to Shrink Tenfold in Reverse Split, Closing Gap With Peers

Co-CEO Sean Windeatt said the deal “positions kACE to enter an exciting new chapter as part of smartTrade” while allowing BGC to concentrate on scaling its Fenics platforms.

“This transaction delivers significant value for our shareholders and positions kACE to enter an exciting new chapter as part of smartTrade.”

The transaction is set to close by the end of 2025, subject to customary approvals. TA Associates will remain the majority investor in the combined smartTrade–kACE group, which now aims to redefine the landscape of multi-asset trading through a seamless, end-to-end digital infrastructure.

Recently, smartTrade Technologies migrated its trading infrastructure to Amazon Web Services as part of a broader modernization push under a new internal initiative called MetaCloud, which is designed to support hybrid cloud deployment while boosting flexibility, scalability, and automation across its trading and payments platforms.

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About the Author: Jared Kirui
Jared Kirui
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Jared is an experienced financial journalist passionate about all things forex and CFDs.

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