IntercontinentalExchange picks banks as plots Euronext listing
INTERCONTINENTALEXCHANGE (ICE) has hired three banks to advise on the listing of Euronext, whose sale is crucial to its $8.2bn (£5.2bn) takeover of NYSE Euronext.
ABN Amro and existing advisers on the ICE/NYSE deal, Societe Generale and JP Morgan, will act as global coordinators on the flotation of the combined Paris, Lisbon, Brussels and Amsterdam exchanges, sources said yesterday.
ICE decided to float Euronext when it sealed a deal with NYSE Euronext last year in order to fund the transaction, to ease regulatory approval in Europe and to keep the combined group’s focus on US operations, one of the people said. ICE will however keep NYSE’s Liffe interest rate futures exchange.
The US-based exchange operator is planning to float about 50 per cent of Euronext in Paris in the second quarter of next year and will retain about 30 per cent, one of the sources said. Euronext is worth about €1.5bn and a partial listing could help ICE-NYSE raise about €750m, said the same person, who added a secondary listing in Amsterdam was also being reviewed. While an initial public listing (IPO) remains the most likely route, Euronext may also combine part or all of its activities with European rivals such as Germany’s Deutsche Boerse.