The New York Stock Exchange. File.(Photo: Stephen Chernin, Getty Images)
The New York Stock Exchange's parent, NYSE Euronext, has agreed to be
acquired by the rival Intercontinental Exchange in a cash and stock
deal.
If approved by regulators, the merger would end two
centuries of independence for the NYSE, the world's best known stock
exchange.
Trading in stocks of both companies have been halted Thursday pending an announcement, which came shortly before 8:30 a.m. ET.
ICE
is offering $33.12 a share for the NYSE, a 37% premium to Wednesday's
closing price of $24.05. That price values the NYSE at about $8.2
billion.
The deal has been approved by boards of both companies.
The
Intercontinental Exchange has tried before to acquire NYSE Euronext's
derivatives business, in a deal that would have sent the stock trading
to the Nasdaq stock exchange. But the U.S. Department of Justice said it
would reject that deal on anti-trust grounds.
Euronext had agreed to be acquired by Deutsche Borse before ICE and Nasdaq came in to try to break up that deal.
USA Today