Intercontinental completes New York takeover
INTERCONTINENTAL Exchange’s takeover of NYSE Euronext is complete and stock of the combined company will begin trading under the symbol ICE today, the head of ICE confirmed last night.
The deal, which was worth $10.9bn as of 1 November, gives ICE control of Liffe, Europe’s No2 derivatives market, as well as the New York Stock Exchange, which has been at the center of American capitalism since it was started back in 1792.
ICE, an exchange and clearing house operator, will announce within days which parts of NYSE it plans to keep, and which parts it plans to divest, its chief executive Jeff Sprecher said yesterday.
ICE said when it announced the deal in December 2012 that it expected to cut the majority of $450m of expenses from the combined company by the second full year after the deal closes.
Sprecher has been vocal in his criticism of the way the US equity markets function, saying problems brought on by rapid advances of technology, fragmentation and regulation need to be addressed and that the NYSE is the perfect place to shake things up.
Sprecher has also vowed to keep open the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.