The US market group ICE created a global financial market giant today by taking over US-European stock market operator NYSE Euronext for USD 11.0 billion (8.2 billion euros).
"This is a game changing transaction," the chief executive of ICE (Intercontinental Exchange), Jeffrey C Sprecher, said in a statement.
The ambitious move by a relative newcomer ends nearly two centuries of independence by the New York Stock Exchange, and signals the likely spin-off of Euronext.
ICE said that the deal "creates the premier operator of global exchanges."
It said that the new entity was "diversified across a range of asset classes spanning interest rates, equities and equity derivatives, credit derivatives, bonds, foreign exchange, energy, metals and agricultural commodities."
Sprecher said: "ICE now leads in terms of the breadth and depth of services, best-in-class technology, and access to markets and capital."
The statement said that the group had a market value of USD 23 billion, operated in 16 exchanges and five central clearing houses.
ICE and NYSE Euronext are to continue to operate under their own brands, but ICE repeated that it expected to float Euronext off in an initial public offering (IPO).
Euronext operates a number of European markets, including the Paris stock market from which it originates.
ICE launched its bid in December 2012 and the deal was to have been completed by November 4 but had to be delayed awaiting some regulatory authorisations.
ICE is based in Atlanta, in the southeast United States, and specialises in raw materials and in financial instruments based on the foreign exchange market and on interest rates.
It was created in 2000 by Sprecher who is still chairman.
The deal means that this young company is buying a grand institution in New York. The NYSE was created at the end of the 18th century and has been called the New York Stock Exchange since 1863.
The deal means that ICE wins control of Liffe, the London financial futures market which had been acquired previously by Euronext and is considered to be a jewel in the group.
But ICE wants to spin off Euronext as the operator of stock markets in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon, and the IPO is expected in 2014 subject to details yet to be published.
ICE had already tried unsuccessfully, with the US Nasdaq electronic market, to buy NYSE Euronext in 2011. That attempt failed because of opposition from the US Department of Justice.
