NASDAQ Euro deal
London, Frankfurt and NASDAQ on Wednesday announced plans to create a pan-European high growth high tech stock market. The London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse also announced plans for a merger of equals to create a new company called iX, which will consist of all of the London Stock Exchange's and Deutsche Boerse's businesses, apart from Frankfurt's 50 percent stake in Clearstream, a settlement system, and will be based in and managed from London. NASDAQ had announced plans to establish a European presence, but had not yet done so.
The proposed joint venture between iX and NASDAQ will bring together London's techMARK and Germany's Neuer Markt as the foundation stone of Europe's largest and most liquid pan-European high growth market, accounting for some 80 percent of traded volume. TechMARK includes the 210 high tech companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, while the Neuer Markt has 252 companies listed. No mention has yet been made of what the new arrangement will mean to Neuer Markt's dominant relationship with the EuroNM alliance of European new markets. ...