Will KCG look to sell other assets — including Forex ECN KCG Hotspot?

KCG Holdings — the company resulting from the merger of Knight Capital and Getco — formally announced today it had closed its $80 million sale of reverse mortgage originator Urban Financial, a transaction we reported would happen back in July.

Following the merger, KCG did not hide its intentions to shed non-core assets to focus on what it calls its ‘core market making and trading services’ businesses. The question, of course, is what exactly is truly ‘non-core’. While both Getco and Knight Capital’s businesses were centered around equity market making, KCG’s inherited Hotspot FX unit — which it has since renamed KCG Hotspot — has performed very well, with Hotspot volume metrics increasing nicely this year.

Institutional forex agenting is very different than retail equity market making. However KCG has so far given no indications that it intends to sell Hotspot, which we believe could fetch something in the $200 million range.

To see the KCG press release on the Urban Financial sale click here.

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