NYX Nyse Euronext

Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE) and NYSE Euronext (NYX) Tuesday said they had submitted revised remedy proposals for their planned merger to the European Union's antitrust oversight body aimed at winning key approval for the deal.

The revised concessions, which were turned in by the 2300 GMT deadline Monday, center on additional measures by the merger partners to open up their derivatives business to third parties, confirming information Dow Jones Newswires obtained from several people familiar with the matter Monday.

In consultation with the Commission, both merger partners also agreed to an extension of the merger plan review by the EU Commission by 13 working days. The Commission now plans to complete its review by Feb. 9, compared with the previous envisaged Jan. 23 date. Both exchanges said they anticipate a closing of the deal shortly after the Feb. 9 date.

In short, both merger partners said there were ready to sell more European single-equity derivatives than in the original proposal and enable the buyer of the derivatives to access their Eurex Clearing system if desired.

They also said in the very technical release that they "improved the coverage of their clearing access remedy for innovative equity index and interest-rate derivatives." In addition, they said they are committed to license the Eurex trading system to a third party interested in launching interest-rate derivatives. Further detail wasn't immediately available.

These moves are intended to counter charges by the exchanges' competitors that previously offered concessions were minor and didn't address the market-dominance issue in the European regulated derivatives market.

The exchange operators' offering to Brussels to try to win approval for their planned merger is expected to walk a fine line between addressing the regulator's concerns, while retaining the deal's business logic, several people familiar with the matter said Monday.

On Monday, Deutsche Boerse's supervisory board approved further concessions that would give more ground on their exchange-listed derivatives businesses, a major area of regulators' focus, where the combined exchanges have a market share of above 90%.

Both exchanges had until sometime this week to come up with "last-gasp" concessions aimed to win EU antitrust approval, the major hurdle to the $18 billion combination, according to three people close to the matter.

-By Ulrike Dauer, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29725 500; ulrike.dauer@dowjones.com

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