Pricelock Announces Launch of Anonymous Auctions

Buyers and Sellers Can Now Engage in Auctions without Disclosing Their Identity

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pricelock, a leader in online energy auctions, announced the addition of anonymous auctions to its platform to transact energy and energy-related products including natural gas, power, distillates, coal, natural gas storage and railcar leases.

“We will continue to innovate and are looking at new ways to provide even more liquidity across physical and financial energy products”

Anonymous auctions provide large energy buyers and sellers with liquidity in those strategic situations when they would prefer to transact without revealing their position or execution price to the market in general. Traditionally these types of transactions have been done either through a broker or on an exchange. However, both approaches have serious drawbacks. The large exchanges like ICE and CME frequently can’t accommodate the specifics of complex energy deals, thus forcing firms to incur the expense and inefficiency of utilizing third-parties to do the transaction for them.

“We are always looking for ways to help our customers and to make markets more efficient. Our ability to leverage technology coupled with our knowledge of the energy market has allowed us to provide unique solutions that add efficiency and liquidity to the market,” stated Naveen Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer. “We will continue to innovate and are looking at new ways to provide even more liquidity across physical and financial energy products,” he added.

Key players from power generators, utilities, refiners, transportation companies, investment banks, marketers and large industrial and commercial enterprises are already using the Pricelock Marketplace platform. The addition of anonymous auctions will increase the situations when they can utilize Marketplace for circulating requests and RFPs, gathering bids, holding online auctions and analyzing results. Counterparty bids and offers are automatically ranked so the party hosting the auction can quickly analyze any relevant cost factors and award business. In an anonymous auction, parties could either pre-pay or utilize a mutually agreed upon clearing facility. By automating processes, Pricelock Marketplace is able to create an efficient and liquid market for all participants.

About Pricelock

Pricelock’s online energy transaction platform provides large energy buyers and sellers an easy and efficient way to transact energy and energy-related products. The platform supports transactions for power, natural gas, natural gas storage, distillates, jet fuel, coal and railcar leases. The largest refiners, utilities, power generators, investment banks, marketers, transportation, industrial and commercial firms participate on the platform. Pricelock’s mission is to innovate and provide liquidity for products that cannot be traded on an exchange.

Pricelock is headquartered in Silicon Valley and is the recipient of several awards including the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies, Global Energy Award of Excellence by Platts, and Hottest Companies in Silicon Valley by Lead 411. Pricelock’s investors include Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Traveler’s Insurance, RenaissanceRe, and Artiman Ventures. To learn more about Pricelock please visit www.pricelock.com.