Crain's Four Chicago-area minority- or woman-owned brokers have been selected as preferred equity trading partners by Northern Trust Corp.'s investment group, the company said Tuesday.

Seven firms were selected from a group of 35 who responded to a request for information from Northern Trust Global Investments. The firms were chosen because they met Northern Trust's requirements in technology platforms, capital commitment and performance, according to the statement.

"Instead of giving small dollars to 30 or 40 firms, we wanted to try to build meaningful relationships with just a few firms," said Don Pollak, senior vice-president of investment relationship management.

The firms will execute stock trades for Northern Trust, Mr. Pollak said.

The four new Chicago-area partners are:

• Cabrera Capital Markets LLC of Chicago.
• Loop Capital Markets of Chicago.
• M. Ramsey King Securities Inc. of Burr Ridge.
• Melvin & Co. of Chicago.

"We're very pleased," said Albert Grace Jr., president of Loop Capital Markets. "It's important to us that we have meaningful relationships within the Chicago business community."

The other three firms are in Coral Gables, Fla.; Oakland, Calif., and New York, Northern Trust said.