LONDON, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Misys plc , the global application software and services company, today announces the completion of its acquisition of Sophis.

The acquisition, which was approved by Misys shareholders on 11 February 2011, has brought together two of the leading software and services providers in capital markets, resulting in a combined business that has the most comprehensive cross-asset and front to back-office coverage available in the market today.

Sophis solutions are used by financial institutions on both the sell-side and the buy-side. Its buy-side solutions will help accelerate Misys' penetration into this lucrative market. Its sell-side solutions, particularly around the equities, equity derivatives and commodities areas, are complementary to Misys' existing strong solutions in interest rate derivatives, foreign exchange and fixed income, as well as its commercial lending capabilities.

To view a filmed interview giving more details and explaining the benefits of the acquisition, click on the link to the video (http://sites.cantos.com/misys/11/announcement-march-2011/public/).

The two businesses now have more than 1,800 dedicated domain specialists with an unrivalled knowledge and expertise covering all asset classes across all functional areas, including trading, investment decision support, portfolio management, risk management, compliance, pricing and collateral management.

Mike Lawrie, CEO of Misys, is delighted with the additional strengths the acquisition brings to the company: "This really catapults us into the No.1 position in the market. Misys and Sophis clients will both benefit from this acquisition: Misys customers will be able to take advantage of the more advanced functionality around equities, equity derivatives, portfolio management and portfolio analytics from Sophis. Whereas, Sophis clients will have access to greater interest rate and credit derivatives, bonds and foreign exchange capabilities from Misys solutions. With the great news that Sophis is now part of the Misys business, I am confident that we can now drive even more value for our customers and shareholders."

"Systems that enable traders, investment managers and risk managers to price and manage any instrument, regardless of complexity or asset class, encourage innovation in the capital markets, as well as increase transparency," states Stephen Bruel, Research Director, TowerGroup a Corporate Executive Board company. "The ability to manage cross-asset portfolio strategies, combined with comprehensive risk management from the front to the back office on one integrated platform will keep institutions ahead of their competitors. Having a single vendor offering this broad coverage potentially reduces risk for financial institutions."

Sophis solutions now have greater exposure to non-European markets, in particular the fast-growing Asian and Latin American markets, through Misys' international footprint and its existing sales and services infrastructure in these regions. Additionally, the combined solution portfolio and broader capital markets expertise will provide new customers with a wider choice of cross-asset coverage.

Sophis, which becomes Misys Sophis, a business unit of Misys, has approximately 130 financial institutions in its customer base. Among its 80 buy-side customers are organisations such as UBS Global Asset Management, Groupama Asset Management, Fidelity International and Dexia Asset Management. Its 50 sell-side customers include Barclays, HSBC, Natixis and Royal Bank of Canada.

Misys now has over 500 customers benefiting from its broad range of capital markets solutions and generates more than 60% of its revenue from the combined capital markets businesses. Misys is a new force in buy-side systems with 13 of the top 20 asset managers and has added 22 new customers in 2010.