CHICAGO - A federal antitrust lawsuit alleging that Bloomberg LP and several Wall Street firms helped orchestrate the demise of InterVest Financial Services Inc.'s Bloomberg-based bond trading system is expected to go to trial in Philadelphia in June, but without Merrill Lynch & Co. among the defendants.
U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania signed an order dismissing Merrill as a defendant March 16, according to court records. The terms of the settlement were not made public.
"We're pleased to have disposed with this; beyond that, we have no comment," said Merrill Lynch spokesman Joe Cohen.
Larry Spector, a lawyer with Mann, Ungar, Spector and Labor in Philadelphia who represents InterVest, declined to comment on the settlement. Spector did confirm that Brody has scheduled the matter for trial against the remaining defendants.
A lawyer for Bloomberg could not be reached for comment.
Malvern, Pa.-based InterVest sued news and information provider Bloomberg in 1998 and nine Wall Street firms in 1999. InterVest claimed that the other firms had colluded to derail InterVest's electronic bond-trading system. The InterVest suit contended that Bloomberg reneged on an agreement to host InterVest's electronic bond-trading exchange on its proprietary network. InterVest claimed Bloomberg was responding to pressure from brokerage firms, which were concerned that an electronic exchange would reduce the profitability of their fixed-income operations.
Bloomberg had originally sued InterVest in 1998 to collect advertising fees. InterVest responded with a counterclaim.
The InterVest system was the invention of Larry Fondren, a former investment banker. He could not be reached for comment. The suit had originally sought up to $1.1 billion in damages.
Other firms being sued by InterVest include Bear, Stearns & Co., Deutsche Bank Securities Corp., S.G. Cowen Securities Corp., J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Salomon Smith Barney Inc., Cantor Fitzgerald Fixed-Income Brokers Inc., and divisions of Liberty Brokerage Inc.
The lawsuit had specifically named Merrill as one of the firms that opposed InterVest's place on the Bloomberg system.
