In a statement, NYSE Euronext said the directors found the $11.3 billion bid from Nasdaq and ICE “strategically unattractive, with unacceptable execution risk.” The parent of the New York Stock Exchange also said the friendly $10.2 billion takeover bid from Germany’s Deutsche Boerse announced in February is in shareholders’ long-term interest, and “significantly more likely” to be completed. A merger would create the world’s biggest financial exchange. “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,” NYSE Euronext Chairman Jan-Michiel Hessels said in a statement. It is unclear how Nasdaq and ICE will respond to the rejection, and whether they might submit a new bid or take their earlier bid directly to NYSE Euronext shareholders. Representatives of Nasdaq and ICE did not immediately return calls and e-mails seeking comment.
NYSE Euronext directors were concerned that Nasdaq and ICE had failed to line up committed bank financing for their bid, and that a takeover could saddle the combined entities with too much debt, a person familiar with the board’s thinking said. Directors also worried that a Nasdaq-NYSE merger would face serious antitrust problems, and could cost too many jobs in New York City, the person added. The person requested anonymity because of a lack of authority to speak for NYSE Euronext.
