The French government on Tuesday approved IntercontinentalExchange Inc's takeover of stock market operator NYSE Euronext but urged French market players to step in to preserve Paris as a financial centre. The merger, worth some $10.9 billion, has been completed and is set to be followed next year by the spin-off of NYSE's European arm Euronext, which operates the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon stock exchanges.Sources have told Reuters that Dutch and French regulators were seeking to prevent Euronext from falling into foreign hands, and that France's main banks had been approached to take a large stake in the bourse.In a statement late on Tuesday, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said he approved the ICE-NYSE merger, but stressed the need for Euronext to have a federal, European management that would preserve the standing of Paris as a financial hub.Moscovici endorsed a report by Thierry Francq, former chief of French stock market regulator AMF, recommending that ICE set up a group of core shareholders holding a stake of at least 25 percent in Euronext and representing the interests of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal.
NYSE Euronext, is a global operator of financial markets and provider of trading solutions. Shares of NYX fell by 1.09% or $-0.5/share to $45.29. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $22.25 and as high as $46.28. On average, 1523650 shares of NYX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 10798286.
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