LMAX Group Explores Sale or IPO at Valuation of Up to $5 Billion | LeapRate
LMAX Group, the London-based institutional trading venue spanning FX and digital assets, is exploring a sale or public listing that could value the company at up to $5 billion, according to a CoinDesk report citing people familiar with the matter.
The firm has reportedly enlisted Morgan Stanley and KBW, the investment banking arm of Stifel, to weigh its options.
These range from a traditional IPO on Nasdaq — said to be management’s preferred route — to a European listing, a SPAC merger, or an outright sale. LMAX declined to comment on the speculation, and its advisors have similarly stayed quiet.
A Nasdaq debut would mark a dramatic re-rating for LMAX since private equity firm J.C. Flowers bought a 30% stake in mid-2021 at a roughly $1 billion valuation.
Since then, gross profit has grown from $106 million to $190 million and EBITDA from $62 million to $101 million in 2024 — solid growth, but nowhere near enough to justify a fivefold jump in valuation on its own, with a $5 billion price tag implying nearly 50 times last reported EBITDA.
Though widely framed in headlines as a “crypto exchange” story, LMAX’s core business remains institutional FX, with crypto — bolstered by a $150 million Ripple financing deal, plus the Omnia Exchange and Kiosk additions — an increasingly important but still secondary growth engine.
