Nasdaq to spin out exchange for private businesses in deal with banks

Nasdaq to spin out exchange for private businesses in deal with banks

Nasdaq said it will spin out its exchange for private businesses and turn it into a joint venture with SVB Financial, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

The exchange operator set up Nasdaq Private Market, which helps people to trade shares in private companies, in 2014. It said on Tuesday that the venture would "develop a full suite of liquidity solutions for private companies".

Employees of start-ups are often paid partly in shares, which can be difficult to trade before the companies are listed. SVB, which specialises in the tech and life sciences sectors, said that an active market for shares in private companies would help those companies retain staff.

"Innovation companies are staying private longer and need the ability to offer their employees a safe and easy way to generate liquidity while they are building their businesses," said Greg Becker, SVB's chief executive.

The venture establishes a secondary trading venue that will "offer our clients a path to employee retention in an environment where access to talent is one of the biggest challenges".

The companies gave no financial details on the deal.