FTSE 250-listed IG Group Holdings, which has a market capitalisation of R1.8-billion, yesterday announced its acquisition of South African Contracts For Difference (CFD) company, IdealCFD Financial Services.
The South African operation will be known as IG Markets South Africa.
Commenting on the development, IG Group's London-based CEO Tim Howkins said: "Our partnership with James Bishop and the IdealCFDs team stems back to four years ago when the group started supplying IdealCFDs with technology.
"IG Group's acquisition of this business is the logical next step in our relationship and will enable local clients to benefit from our robust trading systems, global reach and our commitment to the innovative technology which allows us to keep our costs low."
CFDs are versatile trading vehicles, allowing users to profit from rising or falling share and index price movements without having to own the underlying instrument. These derivative instruments were originally used by institutional investors to hedge their exposure to underlying stocks, but have become increasingly popular among retail investors as both a trading and hedging instrument.
IG Markets South Africa CEO James Bishop says that IdealCFDs has a long and successful track record in South Africa. "We look to grow from strength to strength. The arrival of IG Markets in South Africa is a significant step, bringing additional credibility, security and international best practice to the South African CFD market."
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