SIX Group is selling its holding in the Eurex joint venture to Deutsche Börse AG in order to concentrate on its core business as a supplier of infrastructure to the Swiss financial centre and on its internationalisation strategy as a pan-European service provider. Other cooperation arrangements between SIX Group and Deutsche Börse AG are unaffected by the sale of the Eurex holding.
SIX Group and Deutsche Börse AG (DBAG) have agreed that SIX Group will sell its holding in the joint venture company Eurex to DBAG on 1 January 2012. In return, SIX Group will receive a payment in cash plus shares in the company created from the merger of DBAG and NYSE Euronext. The contract with DBAG, which is due to expire at the end of 2014, would have required an agreement concerning the dissolution of the joint venture, while the planned merger of DBAG and NYSE Euronext also creates new circumstances. Given this situation, the Board of Directors of SIX Group has decided to focus more strongly on its core business. As sole shareholder of Eurex Zürich, DBAG will lead the Swiss derivatives market to the same extent as it has up to now for at least a further three years.
Through its activities, SIX Group seeks to achieve a direct strategic and operational influence on businesses in its portfolio. It has a 50% holding in the share capital and a 15% share in the financial result of Eurex. What started out as a commercial venture has over the years increasingly become a financial investment. The planned merger of DBAG and NYSE Euronext represents a further acceleration of this process. Moreover, the increasing globalisation and standardisation of the derivatives business severely limits the scope for SIX Group to make any contribution. SIX Group sees its future in supplying an independent, first-class infrastructure to the Swiss financial centre and in systematically executing its internationalisation strategy as a pan-European service provider.
Other cooperation arrangements between SIX Group and DBAG are unaffected by the sale of the Eurex holding. SIX Group has considerable influence on the strategic development and operations in the exchange for structured products Scoach and the global index provider STOXX. Both joint ventures remain key elements of the SIX Group business portfolio.