New York Stock Exchange now belongs to rival ICE

New York — The Intercontinental Exchange Group (ICE) has completed its takeover of the New York Stock Exchange in a stock and cash transaction valued at about $11 billion, ICE said.
The ICE, a futures exchange based in Atlanta, combined with the NYSE and its European branch Euronext has a market capitalisation of $23 billion. The combined company operates 16 global exchanges and five central clearing houses, ICE said.
“This is a game-changing transaction,” said ICE Chief Executive Jeffrey Sprecher.
The combination creates the world’s largest operator of global exchanges trading a range of asset classes from equities, derivatives and bonds to metals and agricultural commodities.

ICE acquired Euronext in the deal but plans to spin it off into a stand-alone entity that will then be taken public, subject to market conditions and regulatory approvals, ICE said. Euronext has exchanges in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris.

The London derivative exchange LIFFE, which is part of Euronext, will remain under the ICE umbrella organisation.
Last year Germany’s DAX exchange proposed a merger with NYSE Euronext, but the transaction was nixed by European Union antitrust regulators.
ICE subsequently announced in December its plans to take over the NYSE and Euronext. The completion of the deal took months to obtain the necessary permits, ICE said.— dpa