HFT firm Virtu Financial to raise up to $314m in IPO

New York-based high-speed trading firm Virtu Financial has said it expects to raise up to $314m (£210m, €286m) through a public share sale.

The move comes a year after Virtu postponed its first attempt to list itself, amid an uproar over high-frequency trading (HFT).

Virtu Financial's planned offering of 16.5 million class A shares is expected to be priced at between $17 and $19 per share, valuing the firm at about $2.6bn.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Sandler O'Neill + Partners are among the underwriters for the stock sale.

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings bought a minority stake in Virtu in December 2014.

Virtu dropped plans to go public in April 2014 amid market turbulence and an international row over high frequency trading (HFT) triggered by the publication of Flash Boys, the book from author Michael Lewis that claimed the markets were being rigged by those with the best technology.

The firm was questioned by New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman as part of his probe into electronic trading.

Virtu also caused a commotion when it revealed last year that it had only one day of trading losses in five years. That detail was meant to show the firm's profitability but critics of HFT pointed to it as a sign that high-speed traders enjoyed unfair advantages, Reuters reported.