Merrill buys into BATS

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. has purchased a minority stake in the alternative trading system BATS ECN, joining Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in the venture, BATS Trading announced today.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We look forward to additional partnerships with the trading community and thank all of our partners and subscribers for their continued support,” said Dave Cummings, chief executive of BATS Trading, according to a statement.
The Kansas City-based alternative trading system averaged daily trading volume of 307 million shares in February, reaching about 13.3% of Nasdaq-listed volume and matching about a 9.2% market share of trades on that exchange.
BATS Trading, which stands for “better alternative trading system,” was founded in June 2005 in response to rapid consolidation among exchanges.