Virtu to Buy ITG for $1 Billion to Add Institutional Clients (1)

Virtu Financial Inc. agreed to buy Investment Technology Group Inc. for about $1 billion, giving the high-speed trading firm a brokerage that has relationships with big institutional investors.

The purchase continues Virtu’s transformation from a company that places bids and offers on exchanges to one that has relationships with customers. Virtu’s $1.3 billion acquisition of rival high-frequency trader KCG Holdings Inc. last year gave it a business that executes orders for retail brokerages. ITG would allow it to build on that growth.

New York-based Virtu will pay $30.30 a share for ITG, according to a statement Nov. 7. The target ...