As FO Week went to press it had just emerged that Man Financial had tendered the winning bid for the surviving divisions of disgraced brokerage Refco, with an official announcement set to be made late on 10 November.
According to a Man statement, the firm had agreed to pay a combined $323m for "primarily all of Refco's employees and the business of Refco's regulated futures brokerage in the US, London, Asia and Canada".
No mention was made of Refco's business in continental Europe; the firm has recently been the subject of litigation in France (see FO Week Vol 10 No 28).
The price named was also significantly below the previously stated high bid of $857.9m by Interactive Brokers, which was reported to have pulled out of the auction earlier on 10 November, although Man's bid did not include Refco's regulatory capital, which could increase it to over $1bn.