ICAP to buy Chicago's Ocean Tomo

ICAP Plc, the world's biggest broker of transactions between banks, agreed to buy Ocean Tomo LLC's patent-brokerage business for an initial $10 million.

ICAP will pay $5 million in cash and $5 million in restricted stock, the London-based company said in a statement. The new entity will be called ICAP Ocean Tomo. Ocean Tomo Vice Chairman Dean Becker will be among staff joining ICAP, according to a statement.

Chicago-based Ocean Tomo will continue to offer its PatentRatings system, its oti.com Web portal of global IP market data, and its Intellectual Property Exchange International, which is a financial exchange with an IP focus.

ICAP is the presenting sponsor for the IP auction to be held in Chicago on June 22-23. A second auction is set for Nov. 3-4 in Paris.

"This is all good news for Ocean Tomo and the market," James Malackowski, Ocean Tomo's president and chief executive officer, said in an e-mail yesterday. The company laid off 20 percent of its workforce and scaled back planned auctions in March. It sold only six lots of IP at its March 27 auction in San Francisco.