JERSEY CITY, N.J., July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Knight/Trimark Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NITE), the largest market maker of U.S. securities, announced today the acquisition of an 18.92 percent investment interest in EASDAQ (The European Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation) for approximately $8.2 million. Kenneth D. Pasternak, president and chief executive officer of Knight/Trimark Group, has been asked to participate as a member of EASDAQ's Board of Directors.

"EASDAQ is an example of an electronic platform that we believe will exemplify future market structure. It has exchange status and importantly, has a pan-European operating capability, unencumbered by relationships with legacy exchanges. Its new, transaction-based model aligns with Knight/Trimark's approach to business," said Kenneth D. Pasternak, president and chief executive officer of Knight/Trimark Group. "Working closely with EASDAQ's strong shareholder base and the investors already involved in this transaction, we look forward to building EASDAQ into a world-class, next-generation exchange. Complementing the recent opening of our London office, this investment marks another step toward establishing a significant presence in the global equities marketplace."

Knight/Trimark, headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, is the parent company of Knight Securities and Trimark Securities. Knight Securities makes markets in over 7,100 equity securities listed on Nasdaq and the OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Trimark Securities trades NYSE- and AMEX-listed equity securities over the counter -- the Third Market. The four-year-old company, the number one execution destination for trades originated over the Internet, is the unseen "processing power" behind the explosive growth in on-line securities trading. It employs more than 550 people worldwide with offices in Jersey City, N.J.; Jericho and Purchase, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.; Boston, Mass.; and London, England.

As a market maker, Knight/Trimark performs the essential task of buying shares when retail or institutional customers want to sell and selling shares when they want to buy. Orders are sent via computer or phone to Knight/Trimark -- all of which are processed in a matching environment where incoming orders are compared against the company's large limit order book. If Knight/Trimark holds a matching order (e.g., sell order for a buy order and vice versa) a trade is made.

If no match is found, Knight/Trimark provides liquidity by committing its own capital and trading on a proprietary basis. For example, if a customer wants to buy 1,000 shares of XYZ stock at $100 apiece, and only 100 shares are for sale at that price, a Knight/Trimark trader will fill the order by selling the remaining 900 shares out of the company's inventory.

Knight/Trimark generates much of its profit through volume and volatility of trading -- the larger the volume and volatility, the greater the opportunity for net trading revenue. The firm has a market making capability in almost all publicly traded U.S. equity securities and can commit capital in all of them.

With its cutting-edge technology, Knight/Trimark has the capacity to handle 1.2 million trades per day. In the second quarter of 1999, the company executed on average 340,000 trades per day, a 138 percent increase over the prior year's second quarter.

For the first half of the 1999 fiscal year, Knight/Trimark recorded $406.7 million in revenues, a 182 percent increase from $144 million in revenues for the first half of fiscal year 1998. Since going public in July 1998, the company's market capitalization has grown from $750 million to approximately $5 billion.

Information about Knight/Trimark Group can be obtained via the Internet at www.knight-sec.com.

SOURCE Knight/Trimark Group, Inc.