NASDAQ, ICE drop bid to acquire NYSE Euronext
2011-05-16 17:35:15
Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) said Monday they were abandoning their takeover bid of NYSE Euronext after US antitrust officials made clear the firms would not receive approval.
"We are surprised and disappointed in the Antitrust Division's conclusion," Nasdaq OMX chief executive Bob Greifeld said in a statement after company representatives met with antitrust officials in the US Department of Justice.
"We took the decision to withdraw our offer when it became clear that we would not be successful in securing regulatory approval for our proposal despite offering a variety of substantial remedies," he said.
In a statement, the Justice Department said it would have filed an anti-trust suit to prevent the deal.
"The acquisition would have substantially eliminated competition for corporate stock listing services, opening and closing stock auction services, off-exchange stock trade reporting services and real-time proprietary equity data products," it said.
Greifeld described the planned hostile takeover as "a unique opportunity to create more value for stockholders and strengthen the US as a centre for capital formation amid an ongoing shift of these vital activities and jobs outside of our country."
The proposed acquisition of markets in New York, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam and Lisbon would have kept Wall Street's fabled exchange under US ownership.
The takeover would have meant the breakup of NYSE Euronext, with its Liffe derivatives business going to ICE while NASDAQ OMX - best known for trading the world's leading technology firms - would have taken control of the stock markets in New York, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon.
NYSE Euronext had repeatedly spurned their offer as it had previously agreed to merge with Deutsche Boerse.
The Nasdaq-ICE bid also played to US nationalist sentiment, after the Deutsche Boerse move sparked complaints that the New York Stock Exchange would come under the control of foreigners.
Under the terms of a February 15 merger proposal, Deutsche Boerse shareholders, would have owned 60 percent of the combined, Netherlands-incorporated firm, and the German company would dominate the new board.
ICE chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Sprecher said he thought the companies had "made an opportunistic and disciplined move to pursue an attractive combination that would preserve competition in the European derivatives markets."
"We will maintain our strong focus on the many initiatives we have underway to continue our track record of delivering industry-leading growth and returns for our customers and stockholders."
Nasdaq OMX Group, the world's largest exchange company, and ICE said earlier this month that each of their boards of directors had approved a cash-and-stock offer to buy all of the outstanding shares of NYSE Euronext for about US$11 billion.
Nasdaq and ICE first approached NYSE Euronext on April 1 with the cash-and-stock offer, and then sweetened their bid on April 19 by offering to pay a US$350 million "break-up fee" if the deal failed to meet regulatory muster.