News In Brief

Famous Stock and Securities Market Mergers and Acquisitions

Matt Berger Feb 10, 2011

NYSE Euronext announced late Wednesday that it is in discussions to be acquired by Germany’s Deutsche Borse. The news comes just a day after the London Stock Exchange announced a merger with TMX Group, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange.

These are only the latest transactions in a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the stock and securities market industry, which has evolved from a collection of non-profit organizations that facilitated trades to profit-seeking institutions. This chart identifies some of the most significant exchange mergers in the last decade, plotted against the value of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 1970.

Some highlights:

2010 – The Singapore Exchange made a bid to purchase ASX Ltd, which runs the Australian stock market, for $8.3 billion. The deal is still pending.

2008 – BovespaHolding SA, which runs the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, merged with Brazil’s main derivatives market BM&F in a $10.3 billion deal.

2007 – This was an active year. NASDAQ purchased Sweden’s OMX AB for $4.1-billion. OMX bought Dubai International Finance Centre for $3.4 billion. NYMEX Holdings was taken over by CME Group Inc. in a deal worth $7.56 billion. NYSE joined investors to buy a 20 percent stake of the India National Stock Exchange for $460 million. And International Securities Exchange Holdings Inc. was purchased by Eurex AG for $2.8 billion.

2006 – This was the start of a frenzy in mergers and acquisitions among stock and exchange markets. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange acquired CBOT Holdings Inc. for $11.1 billion. NYSE Group Inc. paid $10.2 billion for Euronext NV in 2006. That same year NYSE also purchased Archipelago Holdings for $2.26-billion to get into electronic trading. And NASDAQ buys a 15 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange.

Click here or on the image above to view the full-sized version. If I’m missing some obvious ones, post a comment below.

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of TMX Group

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