Conifer Securities, which specializes in providing middle- and back-office services to hedge funds, has agreed to purchase Morgan Stanley’s Outsourced Trading business.

Morgan Stanley will continue to offer prime brokerage services to its Outsourced Trading clients, while it moves its New York-based trading team, under the leadership of William Byrne, to Conifer’s New York office.
 
The move is aimed at boosting Conifer’s ability to provide independent trade execution in equities, options, exchange traded funds and related products to its hedge fund clients. 

Terms of the transaction, due to close at the end of April, were not disclosed.
 
“This is our first acquisition complimenting nearly 20 years of solid organic growth,” said Phil Stapleton, Conifer’s chairman. “We continue to look for new avenues of global expansion to serve our growing client base.”