ICE in talks to acquire NYSE Euronext for around $8 bn: report

NYSE Euronext, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is in talks to sell itself to upstart commodities and derivatives trading firm IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), for around $8 billion, The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported, citing people close to the talks.

The two companies were exploring a cash-and-stock transaction that would value NYSE at about $33 a share, and the deal could involve Atlanta, Geogria-based ICE buying NYSE Euronext and then selling its stock-exchange businesses in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal, the report said, adding that deal could be announced today.

NYSE Euronext, which deals mainly in stock and stock options and derivatives, has a market capitalisation of $5.8 billion, while ICE, which focuses on commodities like oil, natural gas and cotton,  has a market value of $9.3 billion.

Shares of NYSE Euronext rose more than 21 per cent in after-hours trading, to $31, after paper broke the news of the talks.

The talks come more than a year after ICE teamed up with the Nasdaq OMX Group - NYSE's major US rival - and launched a hostile $11-billion bid for NYSE Euronext to pip rival Deutsche Borse's merger plan for the NYSE. (See: Nasdaq OMX, ICE put in rival bid for NYSE Euronext)

The proposed deal would have seen ICE controlling NYSE Euronext's derivatives businesses, and Nasdaq, the stock exchanges business.