IntercontinentalExchange Set to Spin Off Euronext

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Euronext will be sold in an initial public offering. Also, a group of institutional investors will buy a 33 percent stake in Euronext.Credit Philippe Wojazer/Reuters

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Updated, 7:41 p.m. | The IntercontinentalExchange Group, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, said on Tuesday that it planned to spin off Euronext in an initial public offering in the second quarter of this year.

Euronext, which operates stock exchanges across Europe, plans to initially list its shares in Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels. Euronext also plans to list in Lisbon, probably before the fourth quarter.

IntercontinentalExchange, or ICE, which acquired NYSE Euronext in November 2013, did not announce the expected price range of shares or how much it expected to raise in the offering.

The move to make Euronext an independent exchange centers on an “increased desire for transparency, a new level of demand for diverse sources of capital and the emerging economic recovery in Europe,” Euronext’s chief executive, Dominique Cerutti, said in a statement. He said those trends “are driving more activity onto regulated exchanges and position Euronext well.”

The public offering will be a return to independence for Euronext, which was acquired as part of an international push by the New York Stock Exchange in 2007. NYSE Euronext tried to expand further by joining forces with Deutsche Börse, but that deal was blocked by European antitrust regulators in 2012.

Later that year, IntercontinentalExchange, based in Atlanta, bought NYSE Euronext for about $8.2 billion. The acquisition was approved by European regulators in November 2013.

One of the driving forces behind that deal was IntercontinentalExchange’s desire to acquire NYSE Euronext’s European derivatives business, known as Liffe. Part of ICE’s plan has always been to integrate Liffe and then spin off or sell Euronext.

IntercontinentalExchange had previously teamed up with the Nasdaq OMX Group in an attempt to acquire NYSE Euronext in 2011, but eventually dropped the bid because of regulatory concerns.

The Euronext offering is expected to have two parts. There will be a public offering to institutional and retail investors in the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Portugal. There will also be a private placement to institutional investors in other jurisdictions, including the United States.

Euronext’s employees will also have an opportunity to buy shares at a discount.

Before the offering, IntercontinentalExchange said it expected to enter into a separate transaction with a group of institutional investors, including Banco Espirito Santo and BNP Paribas, in which they would acquire a 33 percent stake in Euronext. The institutional investors are expected to agree to hold their shares for three years after the offering.

ABN Amro, JPMorgan Chase and Société Générale are expected to act as joint global coordinators on the offering.