LMAX Group hired Morgan Stanley and KBW to weigh a sale or a stock market listing that could value the London firm at up to $5 billion, CoinDesk reported on Friday, citing three people familiar with the discussions. A Nasdaq listing is the preferred route, one of them said, though a sale, a SPAC merger and a European IPO all remain on the table.The newest full-year numbers LMAX has released cover 2024 and show EBITDA of $101 million. At $5 billion, a buyer would be paying close to 50 times that.Five Times the Price for Two-Thirds More ProfitLMAX last had a price on it in July 2021, when J.C. Flowers paid $300 million for a 30% stake, valuing the group at roughly $1 billion.Since then the business has grown, but not fivefold. Statutory EBITDA has gone from $62 million to $101 million, and gross profit from $106 million to $190 million. Earnings are up by about two thirds over that period, while the price under discussion is five times higher.Chief Executive David Mercer called 2021 a record year, and said of the later set that 2024 "was a defining year for LMAX Group."The $5 billion is a ceiling described by anonymous sources, not a price anyone has agreed. LMAX also says 2025 volumes reached $8.2 trillion, up 26%, and if earnings tracked that, the multiple on current trading would be lower. Those earnings have not been published.What the Market Pays for Trading Venues Right NowKraken parent Payward sold Deutsche Börse a 1.5% stake for $200 million in April, pricing the company at about $13.3 billion. Kraken booked $2.2 billion of revenue in 2025, so that deal cleared at roughly six times sales. It was also a third below the $20 billion Kraken carried in late 2025.Deutsche Börse itself, a profitable listed operator running Eurex and Clearstream, trades somewhere around 16 to 17 times EBITDA on current market data. LMAX booked $201 million of gross revenue in 2024, which puts $5 billion at close to 25 times sales and near 50 times earnings.The choice of venue follows a pattern. Marex dropped a London flotation in 2021 and filed for Nasdaq in 2024, with KBW among the joint lead bookrunners, the same bank now advising LMAX. TP ICAP looked hard at New York. Kraken's own listing has slipped toward 2027 after its valuation fell by a third.The 2025 Numbers Nobody Outside the Data Room Has SeenLMAX takes its time reporting. The 2024 results went out on August 26, 2025, eight months after the year closed, and the investor relations page still lists them as the latest full year.The most recent profit figures available to any public investor therefore describe the business as it stood 18 months ago. The 2025 volume number came out in January. The revenue and EBITDA behind it did not.None of that is concealment, just a slow reporting cycle, and on past form the 2025 set is due around late summer, probably while the bankers are still running the process.An FX Venue Wearing a Crypto LabelAlmost every headline since Friday has described LMAX as an institutional crypto trading platform, which does not match what the accounts show. Crypto is one slice of $6.5 trillion in group volumes, and the FX exchange carries most of the business. That is why one source said there is no rush to list while digital asset markets are soft.The crypto build-out is real enough. Ripple provided $150 million in financing in January to put RLUSD in as collateral, and LMAX followed with Omnia Exchange in February and Kiosk in May.The business has had thin years too. The UK arm posted a net loss for 2023 as crypto volumes fell away. Much of the earnings line moves with a cycle that a buyer at $5 billion would be paying 50 times through.LMAX declined to comment on speculation. Morgan Stanley declined to comment, and Stifel did not respond to CoinDesk before publication. Statutory accounts for LMAX Limited and LMAX Broker Limited, made up to December 31, 2025, are due at Companies House by September 30. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

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