NYSE Group Inc. announced on Monday that it has acquired an equity stake in Marco Polo Network Inc., an electronic platform for global investors to trade equities and derivatives listed on emerging-markets exchanges.

Marco Polo Network Inc., through its local exchange and brokerage relationships, offers intra-market connectivity and routing to brokers and exchanges in more than 40 emerging markets. Together, these markets provide investors with access to more than 90% of the MSCI emerging-markets index.

“Marco Polo Network offers us an excellent opportunity to enhance linkages to a very dynamic and growing segment of the global capital markets,” said NYSE Group president and co-chief operating officer Catherine Kinney. “Combining the NYSE’s global footprint with Marco Polo Network’s global brokerage connectivity through local intermediaries will facilitate enhanced cross-border capital flows. This is a unique opportunity for the NYSE Group and Marco Polo Network to gain complementary business at the onset of further globalization of the capital markets.”

The agreement provides NYSE Group with an ownership stake in, and one seat on, Marco Polo Network’s board of directors. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“The emerging markets are the fastest growing component of the global capital markets. In aggregate, they are the second-largest equity markets in the world as measured by capitalization and turnover. Investor demand for rapid and transparent access to these markets is already substantial; it is set to accelerate and diversify as local equity derivatives and fixed income markets join the fray. MPN’s partnership with the NYSE is an exciting initiative to expand global investor access to these markets,” said Vinode Ramgopal, MPN’s CEO.