SSY Futures on Thursday announced its intention to acquire Uranium Markets before the end of this week but did not disclose the value of the transaction. Speaking to FOW as the firm announced the deal, SSY partner and global head of derivatives said the takeover is a logical step given the growing use of nuclear technology.

“We have built an energetic and dynamic team aimed at taking a leading role in developing commodity markets globally,” Jamie Pearce (pictured) said in an interview. “With that pioneering approach, and seeing how nuclear energy is an increasingly important part of the complex fuelling new technology, the uranium market and specifically this team seemed a natural step for both the derivatives division and the company as a whole.”

Uranium Markets currently intermediates transactions for uranium certificates, which allow users like power stations to claim the physical metal held at warehouses.

“The uranium market today is a small and opaque market, and with this move we will be well positioned to take a leading role in bringing it more into the limelight,” Pearce added. “We have already had discussions with our existing client base and it has piqued a lot of interest. We hope to bring new counterparties into the market, and to establish the building blocks to develop a futures market for uranium.”

SSY Futures, first established as the commodity trading arm of the shipping broker in 1996, has been expanding its coverage in recent years. The firm has a strong position in energy and metals derivatives with 50 brokers across four offices.

The Uranium Markets transaction will bring chief executive Joe Kelly and four brokers based in the US and UK into SSY.

“The Uranium Markets team is thrilled to be integrating into SSY, a top tier brokerage with a global reach, to support the growing demands of the nuclear fuel industry,” Joe Kelly, chief executive of Uranium Markets, said in a release. “We align well with the ethos of SSY – both regarding ourselves as primarily focused on building strong relationships in order to best service our clients’ unique demands.”

SSY Futures in March last year hired a team of three brokers to meet demand for agricultural futures and options, adding grains, oil seeds and soft commodity derivatives coverage.

The division in March 2019 became the first registered intermediating broker on the London Metal Exchange.