Citadel Securities valued at $ 22 billion after the acquisition of Sequoia and Paradigm

Jan.11 (Reuters) – Citadel Securities said on Tuesday that venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and crypto investment firm Paradigm had invested $ 1.15 billion in it, giving the billionaire-founded market maker Ken Griffin has a valuation of almost $ 22 billion.

The round table was led by Sequoia. Alfred Lin, a partner at Sequoia, will join the board of directors of Citadel Securities, the company said.

The two-decade-old company provides trading services to asset managers, banks, brokers and hedge funds. Its institutional activity serves more than 1,600 clients.

The Chicago-based company has benefited from an increase in trading activity, helped in part by retail investors flocking to popular mobile trading apps since the start of the pandemic.

Citadel Securities has come under intense scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and regulators, after Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O) and several other brokers restricted trading in shares of GameStop Corp (GME.N) in January of last year.

The restrictions, which angered some retail investors, followed a mind-boggling rally that triggered a “short squeeze”, resulting in billions of dollars in losses for Wall Street hedge funds.

Citadel, the $ 43 billion hedge fund, had invested $ 2 billion in Melvin Capital at the time, after the latter, which had been missing GameStop since 2014, suffered massive losses.

Citadel Securities has denied any involvement in the decision made by the brokers.

The company has operations in over 50 countries and plans to use the latest capital to expand globally.

Report by Niket Nishant in Bangalore; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri

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