Knight Capital to buy Astor Asset Management

Knight Capital Group, Inc. announced that it has agreed to acquire Astor Asset Management, LLC in a cash and stock deal valued at around $20 million. Astor Asset is a money management firm that specializes in macro-economic strategy and ETF portfolio construction.

“Astor Asset Management has undergone rapid growth by providing active management and diversification across sectors and asset classes at a relatively low expense ratio using ETFs,” Thomas M. Joyce, chairman and chief executive officer at Knight Capital Group, said in a statement. “I believe we can help Astor get to the next level while creating a
foundation for asset management that contributes stable, recurring revenues to Knight.”

Astor Asset, a registered investment advisor founded in 2001, uses proprietary macroeconomic models to construct portfolios of exchange-traded funds which are offered through advisors within separately-managed accounts and the Astor Long/Short ETF Mutual Fund.

Astor has 13 employees and approximately $560 million in assets under management.

The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2010