Ahead of its planned merger with NYSE Euronext, fellow exchange operator Deutsche Börse today revealed 97% of its shareholders had tendered their shares in expectation of approval of the deal.
The initial acceptance period ended 13 July 2011 but was extended until 1 August 2011 for shareholders who had not yet tendered their shares. Since then, during an extra three-month period until 4 November 2011, 3,169,942 Deutsche Börse shares were tendered, corresponding to 1.63% of the total number of Deutsche Börse shares.
Altogether, a total of 189,230,721 Deutsche Börse shares have been tendered under the exchange offer, the company said in a statement.
The offer carried a €2 special dividend in the combined company.
According to the exchanges, the proposed $7.27 billion deal will lead to cost synergies of US$798 million, including US$580 million in cost savings and US$218 million in new revenue opportunities. The combined entity will have a market capitalisation of over US$9 billion.
However, the completion of the deal is still subject to approval by competition and regulatory authorities, which are expected to focus on the dominant position in European derivatives that would be created by the combined firm.
NYSE Euronext operates Liffe, the London-based derivatives exchange it purchased in 2001, while Deutsche Börse now has full control of Eurex, following SIX Swiss Exchange’s sale of its stake in the venue in May.
The two exchanges operators defended the merger at a hearing in Brussels on 27 October and are looking to close the deal by the end of the year. The European Commission’s competition authority will make its final decision by 13 December having already presented the bourses with an initial statement of objections.