Goldman Sachs GSTrUE platform has gotten a lot of ink as of late, especially when hedge fund Oaktree Capital and private equity firm Apollo Management decided to sell shares via the system. Most agree that Goldman Sachs is onto something. Private placement activity is expected to go through the roof, with Sarbanes-Oxley and all. But while most assumed that the Nasdaq's Portal was Goldman's top competitor, it turns out that other Wall Street firms are also jumping into the arena. According to this Financial Times article, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have banded together to put together a competing service. JPMorgan Chase also offers such a platform. So it looks like we're in for some fragmentation. Big surprise.

For more:
- read this Financial Times article