Nasdaq mounts another rival bid for NYSE with cash in hand

Apr 19, 2011, 17:36 GMT

New York - Nasdaq and a partner, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), Tuesday mounted a second rival bid for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE Euronext), saying they had 3.8 billion dollars in committed financing for the takeover.

Nasdaq, which operates the high-tech stock index, was rebuffed earlier this month when the board of the New York Stock Exchange voted unanimously to endorse a merger deal with Deutsche Boerse AG.

Deutsche Boerse has agreed to acquire Nasdaq for 9.5 billion dollars in stock. Nasdaq has offered 11.3 billion dollars, including the 3.8 billion dollars in cash.

Deutsche Boerse has also pledged to pay NYSE 357 million dollars if the deal falls apart. Nasdaq and ICE, which is a commodities exchange, on Tuesday nearly matched the pledge with a guarantee of their own of 350 million dollars if antitrust authorities blocked their proposed takeover.

In February, Deutsche Boerse unveiled a deal to acquire NYSE Euronext for about 9.6 billion dollars in stock. NYSE Euronext chief executive Duncan Niederauer called the agreement a 'merger of equals.'

In its April 10 rejection of the Nasdaq OMX offer, the NYSE Euronext board said: 'Breaking up NYSE Euronext, burdening the pieces with high levels of debt, and destroying its invaluable human capital, would be a strategic mistake in terms of where the global markets are going, and is clearly not in the best interests of our shareholders.'

With the April 10 vote by the NYSE board, shareholders may soon get to decide on the deal. Nasdaq is reported to be courting NYSE shareholders to come to their side.

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