Bourse Dubai, owner of the United Arab Emirates’ two stock exchanges, has offered 27.7 billion kronor ($3.96 billion) for Sweden’s OMX, topping a bid from Nasdaq Stock Market, reports Bloomberg. However, OMX's chairman Urban Backstrom says Bourse Dubai's all-cash bid is less attractive than Nasdaq's share-and-cash bid.
The proposal of 230 kronor in cash, outlined in a statement by Bourse Dubai, would pay OMX investors 14 percent more than the 202.3 kronor in cash and stock Nasdaq offered in May. Bourse Dubai says it already controls 28.4 percent of Stockholm- based OMX, the biggest Nordic exchange.
Nasdaq CEO Robert Greifeld, who needs about $355 million to top Bourse Dubai's bid, says that the New York-based exchange has the financial wherewithal to alter its offer.
Backstrom explains that the industrial synergies from the Nasdaq offer are higher than any from Bourse Dubai, although OMX has yet to decide which bid to back.
Backstrom also calls Bourse Dubai's bid hostile. "It is clear that Bourse Dubai does not care about the OMX Board's view, and therefore the bid must be seen as hostile," says Backstrom.