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January
The London Stock Exchange rejects the Macquarie offer, declaring it “…a blatant attempt to acquire the Exchange on the cheap”.
February
Macquarie’s offer for the London Stock Exchange lapses.
Deutsche Börse initiates fresh merger talks with Euronext .
March
Nasdaq makes a pre-conditional offer to the LSE of 950p per share. The Board of LSE rejects the proposal as it felt the offer undervalued the LSE and the synergies it would present to any acquiring exchange group.
Completion of the NYSE/Archipelago merger on 7 March marks a historic transition for the NYSE from a not-for-profit institution into the publicly traded NYSE Group, Inc.
April
Nasdaq acquires a 15% stake in the LSE, totalling USD785m.
NYBOT Board votes to begin the process of demutualisation.
May
On 8 May Nasdaq takes another 3.5% of LSE for approximately USD221m, and another 5.5% on 15 May for USD321m.
On 23 and 24 May Nasdaq acquires a further 1% in LSE, amounting to approximately USD51m.
The shareholders of Euronext, in their AGM on 23 May, vote against the Deutsche Börse bid proposal as they felt the offer undervalued the exchange.
June
NYSE Group and Euronext announce their agreement to a merger of equals that creates ‘the first truly global exchange group’.
South Africa's only stock exchange, the JSE Ltd, is listed on its own exchange.
July
The Chicago Board Options Exchange files with the SEC to demutualise.
Australian Stock Exchange merges with SFE Corporation.
August
The Brazilian Mercantile & Futures Exchange (BM&F) chooses Rothschild as its advisor for BM&F’s possible demutualisation and IPO, pending approval of the Brazilian regulatory agencies.
The Central Japan Commodity Exchange (C-Com) and the Osaka Mercantile Exchange agree to merge. The merger became effective on 1 January 2007. The surviving exchange is C-Com.
September
OMX acquires the Icelandic Stock Exchange for USD35m.
October
The veto period for a fresh LSE bid from Nasdaq expires.
CME and CBOT agree to merge their organisations to create a global derivatives exchange. to be named CME Group Inc. The merger is expected to be complete by mid financial year 2007, pending approvals by regulators and shareholders of both exchanges.
Deutsche Börse opts out of the bid for Euronext.
OMX acquires a 10% stake in Oslo Børs.
November
A consortium of seven of the largest investment banks announces their intention to set up a new pan-European share trading platform offering lower costs. Since the consortium accounts for half of all shares traded on major European stock markets, the proposed platform is expected to eat into at least a third of LSE’s volumes. Following the news, the LSE stock declined to GBP12.34, lower than the minimum price (GBP12.48) Nasdaq would have to pay to acquire additional shares in LSE. This minimum price is also the highest price paid by Nasdaq when it acquired LSE shares in May.
Nightingale Acquisition Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nasdaq, makes a ‘final’ cash offer to takeover LSE at GBP12.43 per share. Nasdaq also requests a meeting with the LSE. Since Nasdaq insists that this offer is final, the offer price could be revised only in two instances: a) either the LSE board recommended a revision, or b) a competing offer was made by some other firm.
Following this announcement, Nasdaq acquires an additional 7m shares in LSE at GBP12.43 per share. This purchase takes Nasdaq’s total holding in the LSE to 28.75% or 61.3 m shares.
The LSE Board rejects the offer stating the price offered by Nasdaq undervalued the exchange. It also insists that the LSE’s unique strategic position and potential were not reflected in the offer price. Nasdaq’s request for a meeting is also turned down. Following the news, the LSE stock crosses GBP13.00.
Nasdaq expresses disappointment with LSE decision, but states its intention to proceed with its offer to LSE shareholders. Nasdaq is now waiting for shareholders to exert pressure on the Board of LSE to accept its offer.
The New York Mercantile Exchange goes public. The shares open at US120 – double its expected price – and continue climbing.
Dubai Financial Market IPO is oversubscribed 300 times.
December 2006
NYSE and Euronext shareholders vote in favour of the merger. The transaction is expected to close in late first quarter 2007.
The Board of Montréal Exchange decides to proceed with a listing of the exchange’s shares without offering. The listing should occur once the formal procedures have been completed, probably in March or April 2007.
