DASH Financial Technologies, the leading options technology and execution provider in the U.S., today announced that ION Investment Group has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the company from Flexpoint Ford, LLC.

"This is a very exciting moment for our firm as we embark on the next chapter of growth. Under ION's ownership, we will continue to invest in product innovation that drives value for our clients while also benefiting from ION's global reach and established network of relationships," said co-founder Peter Maragos, who will continue to serve as CEO of DASH. "We are incredibly grateful for the contributions and support we received from Flexpoint Ford and are thrilled about what this new partnership allows us to do for our clients."

Andrea Pignataro, ION's CEO said: "DASH's solutions optimize and improve execution quality and transparency for both the buy-side and sell-side. DASH was built on the ethos of great technology, deep domain expertise and strong customer service. DASH's team is additive to the DNA of our ION Markets division, particularly with their domain expertise in options and customer-centric approach."

Steve Begleiter and Daniel Edelman, both Managing Directors at Flexpoint Ford, said: "DASH has built the leading technology and execution platform in the options space. We very much enjoyed working with them; they did a tremendous job of executing on both organic growth initiatives as well as accelerating growth through acquisition efforts."

Jefferies LLC served as financial advisor to DASH and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Flexpoint Ford and DASH.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

About DASH Financial Technologies

DASH Financial Technologies is the leading U.S. options technology and execution provider, offering fully customizable routing and order management solutions to financial institutions as well as complete order routing transparency featuring real-time visualization through the award-winning DASH360 platform. For more information, please visit www.DASHfinancial.com.

About ION Investment Group

ION provides trading and workflow automation software solutions to financial institutions, central banks, governments and corporations. For more information, please visit www.iongroup.com.

About Flexpoint Ford

Flexpoint Ford is a private equity investment firm that has raised more than $4.3 billion in capital and specializes in privately negotiated investments in the healthcare and financial services industries. Since the firm's formation in 2005, Flexpoint Ford has completed investments in more than 30 companies across a broad range of investment sizes, structures and asset classes. Flexpoint Ford is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. For more information about Flexpoint Ford, please visit www.flexpointford.com.