Baird, Fox River Execution Team Up to Deliver Algorithmic Trading to Institutional Clients

News provided by

Feb 11, 2010, 11:02 ET

MILWAUKEE and CHICAGO, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Baird, an employee-owned international financial services firm, and Fox River Execution, an agency broker dealer and leading provider of unique algorithmic solutions, today announced an exclusive partnership to provide algorithmic trading capabilities to Baird's institutional clients. The partnership enables Baird to offer Fox Trader™, Fox River's top-rated execution software that incorporates trader logic, to Baird's institutional equity clients.

"We are very pleased to partner with Fox River Execution and to be able to provide clients with this unique execution offering," said Bill Mahler, Baird's Co-head of Global Equity Capital Markets and Director of Institutional Equity Services. "Clients told us what they wanted with regard to electronic trading, and we consider Fox Trader to be the solution that will best meet their needs."

The addition of Fox Trader™ is a further evolution of Baird's robust Institutional platform offering a full suite of execution services focused exclusively on the best interests of Baird's clients. The Fox Trader™ execution system employs "trader logic," enabling Fox River Execution's algorithms to mimic the thought processes and knowledge of an experienced trader to relentlessly pursue the best price and sources of liquidity. Providing clients with superior execution quality is each firm's sole focus. Neither firm operates a proprietary trading desk, nor has any ownership interest or bias regarding execution venues.

"Fox River is excited about offering our algorithmic execution services to Baird's institutional clients," said Ron Santella, Fox River's CEO. "This is about providing clients the optimal solution by combining our award winning algorithmic execution with Baird's world-class institutional platform."

The partnership with Fox River Execution is the latest development in the continued growth of Baird's Institutional Equity Services business, which posted its 15th consecutive year of record revenues in 2009 despite the turbulent market environment. Other highlights for Baird include opening a new, state-of-the-art trading floor, expanding Program Trading capabilities, expanding the Institutional equities team in both the U.S. and Europe, and growing the firm's award-winning Equity Research coverage to more than 615 companies.

About Fox River Execution

Fox River Execution's suite of execution products was developed to address the unique needs of the institutional trader. Fox River was ranked No.1 algorithmic trading provider for the combined three year period of 2007 through 2009 by Institutional Investor (conducted by research firm Elkins/McSherry). Fox River Execution is headquartered in suburban Chicago with offices in New York and San Francisco. Fox River Execution Technology, LLC is a FINRA registered broker/dealer and a member of the SIPC. For more information, visit www.foxriver.com.

About Baird

Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Established in 1919, Baird has more than 2,400 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients. Baird oversees and manages client assets of more than $75 billion. Committed to being a great place to work, Baird ranked number 11 on FORTUNE's "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2010 – its seventh consecutive year on the list. Baird's principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird's private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird's Web site at www.rwbaird.com.

SOURCE Baird