Northern Trust has closed its acquisition of Aviate Global, an institutional equity brokerage firm that offers market research and execution services from its offices in London, New York, Hong Kong and Sydney.

The Aviate business, along with more than 30 of its employees, will be amalgamated into Northern Trust’s existing brokerage business, Northern Trust Securities, within its Corporate & Institutional Services unit. 

The acquisition provides local trading and servicing presence for Northern Trust in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

The purchase also comes with AviateLive, a research product aimed at providing actionable investment ideas to clients.

The close comes after Northern Trust announced its intentions in December last year.

The Chicago-based custodian announced increased first quarter revenues and profits in April. It reported profits of $241.8m, up from $230.7m at the same time last year. Revenue increased 4.9% to $1.19bn.

Despite the improved results its share price has fallen by 5.3% since the start of the year.