Tullett Prebon launches online tool for secondaries

Tullett Prebon Alternative Investments, the alternative investments arm of London-listed interdealer broker Tullett Prebon, has developed an online platform called TP-AIME (Tullett Prebon Alternative Investments Matching Engine) to better facilitate transactions in alternative investments.

The online engine gives updates on prices and also facilitates auctions in hedge fund, private equity and real estate fund interests.

Secondary transactions in fund interests tend to be opaque, according to Tullett Prebon. The platform is aiming to improve transparency and create “a more robust marketplace,” the firm said in a statement.

TP-AIME is targeting investors looking to buy or sell illiquid interests. GPs can also employ it as a tool for one-time managed liquidity events aimed at investors that remain in tail-end funds, as well as offering their investors a periodic source of liquidity from ongoing funds.

The tool carries both live and indicative pricing which has been combined with TPAI's existing auction infrastructure and is delivered via TPAI desks in London, New York, Hong Kong and Dubai, bringing speed and efficiency to both price discovery and settlement stages of secondary trading.

“All markets have to develop if they are to thrive. TPAI’s new system has been a long time in development, but the clarity and integrity it brings to secondary transactions is another milestone in the evolution of the alternatives market. The screen offers increased transparency to LPs and GPs across the globe which is vital for international auctions with multiple participants” Suchita Nayar, head of alternative investments North America at Tullett Prebon said in the statement.

Tullett Prebon could not immediately comment on how many GPs have so far signed up for the platform, but said in the statement that “numerous GPs” have already signed up to run auction events, or to offer continuous liquidity to their clients via the screen.