Trading platform LMAX worth $1bn after injection

Foreign exchange is the main business of the little-known London based company, which was valued at GBP100m in 2018. However interest in the group's crptocurrency services had skyrocketed, with its crypto platform trading a record $74bn in May this year.

Spun out of Betfair in 2012, the group's $1bn valuation is 20 times its earnings before interest,taxes, depreciation and amortisation in the past 12 months.

David Mercer, former banker and LMAX chief executive, paid lessthan GBP22m for Betfair's remaining 31.5pc share three years ago. “The importance of today is that it vindicates our position, our business model, our approach to transparency and a better capital markets ecosysytem,” Mr Mercer said yesterday.

JC Flowers will help the trading platform expand into the US and Asia. He added LMAX's sixth exchange will launch in Asia later this year.

The deal reflects the billions of dollars of investment being poured into the booming cyrptocurrency sector, despite regulatory crackdowns.

While LMAX has expanded its crypto services in recent years, Mr Mercer has been keen to stress that cryptocurrency is a minority of the company's business. Crypto trading volumes accounted for 11pc of its total in the first half of the year, but as much as a third of revenues.In that period, it recorded a gross profit of $60.5m.

The group, which operates currency trading venues globall, launched LMAX Digital in 2018 - a cryptocurrency marketplace for large instituional traders.