Pico Expands Its Asia-Pacific (APAC) Footprint into Australia

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pico, a leading provider of mission critical technology, data and analytic services for the financial markets community, continues its global expansion efforts by launching its colocation services in the Australian Liquidity Centre (ALC) for access to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and Chi-X Australia (located in Equinix SY2).

Operating from its new Sydney base, Pico will support clients in accessing this important market, with ASX among the top 20 exchanges globally by market cap, and with dark mid-point matching for best execution. Pico will provide dedicated and shared infrastructure options, comprehensive infrastructure procurement, connectivity, and hosting, all supported by on-site engineering and data center management expertise. In addition to ASX and Chi-X market data, Pico will offer tailored technology solutions based on its global market data services. Furthermore, through Pico’s ASX connectivity, clients can access more than 60 dual-listed stocks of New Zealand’s top companies.

“We are delighted to extend the reach of our globally comprehensive technology solutions to Australia – including our Layer 1 ultra-low latency connectivity – which is available to market participants trading on the Australian Securities Exchange,” said Roland Hamann, Chief Technology Officer & Head of APAC at Pico. “With the continued increase in electronic trading across all asset classes, market participants now require global access and connectivity to all liquid and electronic markets. Our global expansion efforts remain focused on supporting clients to move fast, access new markets and to harness new opportunities.”

Opening in Australia marks yet another milestone in Pico’s rapid APAC expansion, having recently added China to its global footprint. With support from local teams, Pico now serves electronic trading participants across the APAC region, with comprehensive connectivity and venue presence across APAC in Singapore (SGX and SG1), Hong Kong (HKEx and HK5), Japan (JPX, CC2 and TY3), the Republic of Korea (KTY and BUSAN) and Taiwan (TWSE and BQ).

Pico has built a cloud infrastructure for financial markets participants with mission critical exchange connectivity spanning 47 data centers traversing all key global market centers in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Its resilient proprietary network, PicoNet^TM, is a globally comprehensive, low-latency and fully redundant network connecting all major financial data centers with access to major public cloud providers. This allows Pico the technical capability to offer any financial market data anywhere to its clients for true borderless trading. The combination of Pico’s global infrastructure and data services with its analytics and machine intelligence solution, Corvil Analytics, contributes to clients being equipped with cutting-edge solutions to meet ever-changing market conditions.

Pico/Athena

On August 4, 2021, Pico announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement for a business combination with FTAC Athena Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: FTAA), a special purpose acquisition company. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will operate as Pico. The transaction reflects a pro forma enterprise value for the combined company of approximately $1.4 billion. The business combination, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Pico and FTAC Athena, is targeted to close in late 2021, subject to stockholder approvals and other customary closing conditions.

About Pico

Pico is a leading provider of technology services for the financial markets community. Pico provides a best-in-class portfolio of innovative, transparent, low-latency markets solutions coupled with an agile and expert service delivery model. Instant access to financial markets is provided via PicoNet™, a globally comprehensive network platform instrumented natively with Corvil analytics and telemetry. Clients choose Pico when they want the freedom to move fast and create an operational edge in the fast-paced world of financial markets.

To learn more about Pico, please visit pico.net.

Contacts

For Pico Global, Inc.:
Investors:

Michael Bowen and Ryan Gardella

PicoIR@icrinc.com

Media:
Brian Ruby

PicoPR@icrinc.com

For FTAC Athena Acquisition Corp.:
Mehar Jagota

mehar@ftspac.com