Liquidnet, NYSE Euronext Team On Dark Pool Service

NEW YORK (AP) — Electronic marketplace Liquidnet Holdings Inc. said Monday it is partnering with NYSE Euronext to allow corporate management access to information about large institutional investor trades, or so-called "dark pool" liquidity.

"Dark pool" is a term for the trading volume that is created by the buying and selling of large, or "block," amounts of shares by institutional investors like banks, pension funds and mutual funds. Such orders aren't available to the public.

Liquidnet is launching a new corporate access business called Liquidnet InfraRed, proprietary software which can be accessed through NYSE's network system. The software compiles data on large buy and sell transactions by institutional investors as well as news sentiment. The trend data could help corporate executives proactively reach out to their targeted institutional investors.

Corporate access is currently inefficient, said Seth Merrin, Liquidnet's chief executive. The new system seamlessly connects issuers and investors, he said.

"We believe that this new model will mitigate the inherent conflicts that often arise in servicing both the portfolio managers at our member firms and NYSE Euronext's corporate issuers," he said.