An Atlanta company that was slated to close Monday on its blockbuster purchase of the New York Stock Exchange has delayed the deal.
IntercontinentalExchange, known as ICE, does not expect any objections to its bid to purchase NYSE Euronext, which owns the exchange, in a $10.9 billion deal. But a statement from both companies said the closing was pushed back “to allow additional time for relevant European regulators … to process and issue their approvals.”
Neither company set a new expected closing date, though they said the necessary approvals are expected “in the coming days,” and the deal will close two business days later.
The holdup is approvals from regulators in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. ICE has not extended the voting deadline for NYSE Euronext shareholders, which is 5 p.m. Eastern time Thursday.
“Neither ICE nor NYSE Euronext anticipates any substantive issues being raised in the context of these remaining European national approvals,” the statement said.
David Weiss, a senior analyst at Aite Group, said the delay won’t make a difference for the merger, even if it unsettles investors who don’t like uncertainty.
“I would expect it to maybe be a week or two,” he said. “I don’t think they’re inclined to radically alter the deal.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Commission already have approved the deal.
The combined company will operate global exchanges and service transactions involving agricultural and energy commodities, credit derivatives, equities and equity derivatives, foreign exchange, and interest rates.
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