BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGCP), a leading global brokerage and financial technology company, today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the distribution of all of the shares1 of Newmark Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NMRK) held by the Company to stockholders of BGC. The Company will distribute these Newmark shares through a special pro rata stock dividend.
The Spin-Off will be effective as of 12:01 a.m., New York City time, on November 30, 2018 to BGC stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 23, 2018. Based on the number of common shares of BGC outstanding as of November 7, 2018, the Company estimates that, in the Distribution, stockholders of BGC Partners Class A common stock will receive approximately 0.4613 of a share of Newmark Class A common stock for every one share of BGC Partners Class A common stock held as of the Record Date.2 Following the Spin-Off, BGC will no longer hold any shares of Newmark.
Management Comments
“We are pleased to have completed the steps necessary to separate Newmark from BGC,” said Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BGC and Chairman of Newmark. “The Spin-Off will enhance Newmark’s ability to execute its successful growth strategy and to create value for its investors as a focused Real Estate Services company. BGC’s Financial Services business expects to deliver strong returns to its stockholders as it invests in technology, hires profitably, and acquires accretively.”
Additional Information Regarding the Spin-off Transaction
Newmark’s Class A float will increase from approximately 23 million shares to approximately 150 million shares as a result of the Spin-Off.3 The Newmark shares to be distributed will be delivered in book-entry form, subject to certain exceptions, at the effective time of the Distribution, and BGC Partners stockholders who hold their shares through brokers or other nominees will have their Newmark common shares credited to their accounts by their brokers or other nominees. The Spin-Off is intended to qualify as generally tax free to BGC stockholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. and BofA Merrill Lynch served as financial advisors to BGC in connection with the spin-off, while Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP served as legal advisors.
About BGC Partners, Inc.
BGC Partners is a leading global brokerage and financial technology company. BGC offers Real Estate Services through its publicly traded subsidiary Newmark Group, Inc. BGC owns GFI Group Inc., a leading intermediary and provider of trading technologies and support services to the global OTC and listed markets. BGC’s Financial Services offerings include fixed income securities, interest rate swaps, foreign exchange, equities, equity derivatives, credit derivatives, commodities, futures, and structured products. BGC provides a wide range of services, including trade execution, broker-dealer services, clearing, trade compression, post trade, information, and other services to a broad range of financial and non-financial institutions. Through brands including Fenics, BGC Trader, Capitalab, Lucera, and Fenics Market Data, BGC offers financial technology solutions, market data, and analytics related to numerous financial instruments and markets. BGC, BGC Trader, GFI, Fenics, Fenics Market Data, Capitalab, and Lucera are trademarks/service marks and/or registered trademarks/service marks of BGC Partners, Inc. and/or its affiliates.
BGC’s customers include many of the world's largest banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, trading firms, hedge funds, governments, corporations, property owners, real estate developers, and investment firms. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit http://www.bgcpartners.com. You can also follow BGC at https://twitter.com/bgcpartners, https://www.linkedin.com/company/bgc-partners and/or http://ir.bgcpartners.com/Investors/default.aspx.
About Newmark Group, Inc.
Newmark Group, Inc. is a publicly traded company that, through subsidiaries, operates as a full-service commercial real estate services business with a complete suite of services and products for both owners and occupiers across the entire commercial real estate industry. Under the Newmark Knight Frank name, the investor/owner services and products of Newmark Group’s subsidiaries include capital markets (including investment sales), agency leasing, property management, valuation and advisory, diligence and underwriting. The company’s subsidiaries also offer government sponsored enterprise lending, loan servicing, debt and structured finance, and loan sales. Newmark Group’s occupier services and products include tenant representation, global corporate services, real estate management technology systems, workplace and occupancy strategy, consulting, project management, lease administration and 3 facilities management. Newmark Group enhances these services and products through innovative real estate technology solutions and data analytics designed to enable its clients to increase their efficiency and profits by optimizing their real estate portfolio.
