Acquisition

IG Group Holdings plc
19 November 2007

IG Group Holdings plc

19 November 2007



IG Group Holdings plc ('IG' or 'the Group') agreed on Friday 16th November to
purchase the entire issued share capital of HedgeStreet Inc ('HedgeStreet') for
$6.0m, approximately £2.9m.  Up to half of the consideration may be satisfied by
the issue of IG shares.  The balance of consideration will be paid in cash.  The
consideration mix will be determined prior to completion of the acquisition,
which is expected to be within 21 days.



HedgeStreet is a US company which, since 2004, has operated the HedgeStreet
Exchange ('the Exchange').  The Exchange is a US based Designated Contract
Market operating under the regulatory oversight of the US Commodity Futures
Trading Commission ('CFTC').  HedgeStreet is also registered with the CFTC as a
Derivatives Clearing Organisation.  The Exchange has previously listed binary
option contracts, principally on forex and commodities.  The Exchange ceased
listing contracts at the end of September.



HedgeStreet has liabilities of approximately $1m and currently has operating
costs of approximately $325,000 per month.  It is not currently generating any
revenue.  The Group will provide HedgeStreet with funds to discharge its
liabilities and finance its ongoing operating costs.



Commenting on the acquisition Tim Howkins, CEO of IG, said:



'For some time we have been interested in entering the US market, but regulatory
constraints limit our ability to offer much of our existing product range.  The
acquisition of HedgeStreet marks an important step in our ongoing process of
researching and developing as broad a product range as possible that can be
offered to US retail clients.



'The acquisition of HedgeStreet gives us the necessary regulatory approvals,
technology, intellectual property and most of the staff needed to operate an
exchange allowing US retail clients to trade binary options.  We intend to make
some modifications to the Exchange, particularly the range of contracts offered,
after which we will re-launch it.  We are aiming for this re-launch to take
place around the end of our current financial year.  We will continue to develop
and extend the range of contracts that can be traded on the Exchange in order to
widen the appeal of our US offering.  We anticipate that the majority of the
development work will be covered by the current operating costs.



'While we are developing the Exchange's product offering we also intend to
activate our existing regulated US subsidiary, IG Financial Markets Inc.  This
already holds the necessary regulatory approvals to offer forex to US retail
clients.  We anticipate that this will start to trade early in 2008, offering US
clients the ability to trade forex using our PureDeal and L2 platforms.  In due
course we plan that IG Financial Markets will also offer its clients contracts
traded on the Exchange.



'The US is the largest retail forex market in the world and already has a large
number of providers.  However, the regulatory environment is in the process of
being tightened, including a significant increase in the capital requirements.
It seems likely that this will reduce the number of competitors and that the
time is now ripe for us, as a well-capitalised business with excellent
technology, to enter this market.  The ability to offer contracts traded on the
Exchange, alongside a conventional over-the-counter forex offering, will, I
believe, provide us with a unique proposition for US retail forex traders.



'Until now it has been our policy not to accept US retail clients.  That will,
of course, remain our policy for our betting and contract for difference
businesses.  Our US subsidiaries, HedgeStreet and IG Financial Markets Inc. will
transact with US clients and have the necessary regulatory status to allow them
to do so lawfully.



'Our acquisition of HedgeStreet represents a further step in our strategy of
geographic expansion and, after some further development work, will give us the
ability to offer the US market an innovative range of products.  This project is
likely to take some time to come fully to fruition, and the extent of its
success will depend on how broad a range of contracts we are able to develop
within the constraints of the US regulatory environment.'







For further information please contact:



Financial Dynamics

Nick Henderson                                   [phone]




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