BGC Group, Inc. has announced the repurchase of 16,452,850 shares of its Class A common stock from Howard W. Lutnick, the United States Secretary of Commerce and the company's former chairman and CEO. The shares were repurchased at $9.2082 per share, amounting to a total purchase price of $151,501,133.
The repurchase comes after the company's record first-quarter results and in anticipation of strong cash flow generation this year. Jason Hauf, the Chief Financial Officer at BGC, emphasized that the repurchase demonstrates the company's commitment to shareholder capital return and is seen as a highly efficient use of capital for creating value for shareholders.
In addition to the repurchase, Howard W. Lutnick has agreed to transfer his ownership interest in Cantor Fitzgerald to trusts for the benefit of his adult children. This entails the sale of 16,115,102 shares, with the remaining 337,748 shares held in retirement accounts to be sold immediately after the Cantor Fitzgerald transactions. Furthermore, Lutnick has entered into an agreement to sell his 8,973,721 BGC Class B shares to Cantor Fitzgerald.
These transactions mark Lutnick's divestiture of his ownership, voting, and economic interests in BGC, in compliance with his U.S. government ethics agreement. As a result, Cantor Fitzgerald will continue to be BGC's largest and controlling shareholder.
BGC Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGC) is a leading global brokerage and financial technology company, offering marketplace, data, and financial technology services for a broad range of products. This includes fixed income, foreign exchange, energy, commodities, shipping, equities, and the FMX futures exchange. BGC's clients include major banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, trading firms, hedge funds, governments, corporations, and investment firms. Today the company's shares have moved 9.28% to a price of $10.065. For the full picture, make sure to review BGC's 8-K report.
