LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Turquoise, the pan-European equity trading venture backed by nine of the world's biggest investment banks, has hired UBS to seek a buyer, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Sales documents have been send to all major exchanges and so-called multilateral trading facilities (MTFs), including the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse, Nasdaq OMX, NYSE Euronext, SIX and Chi-X, according to sources.
UBS was appointed a couple of months ago to explore all strategic options, one of the sources said.
The move comes as MTFs, or start-up alternative trading platforms, face increasing financial pressure as trading volumes decline. European trading operators have been saying it was impossible for MTFs to break even and expect consolidation across the industry.
Turquoise, which told Reuters in May it was considering a third round of cash call, is backed by Citi, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale.
The trading platform, launched in August 2008, is still loss-making, but has about a 7 percent market share. (Reporting by Daisy Ku; Editing by Dan Lalor)