--NYSE Euronext deal with IntercontinentalExchange expected to
close this fall.
--NYSE reported a 38% jump in second-quarter profit
The chief executive of NYSE Euronext (NYX) said Tuesday the
exchange group's planned sale to rival IntercontinentalExchange
Inc. (ICE) is on track to close this fall after securing key
approvals in recent weeks.
ICE and NYSE this month formally requested approval from U.S.
securities and derivatives regulators and await the green light
from European market authorities, said Duncan Niederauer, CEO of
NYSE Euronext.
"We expect to close the deal sometime this fall," Mr. Niederauer
said on a conference call with analysts Tuesday, discussing NYSE's
second-quarter results.
The deal passed a key hurdle in late June when the European
Commission's antitrust examiners approved the combination,
following shareholder votes endorsing the deal. The U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission is due to rule on the transaction by Aug.
15, Mr. Niederauer said.
NYSE on Tuesday reported a 38% jump in second-quarter profit as
trading picked up and expenses declined.
The company's financial results for the period included $22
million of deal-related expenses. The period also included a gain
of $10 million due to NYSE's sale of a portion of its investment in
LCH.Clearnet Group, a European clearinghouse operator, and what
NYSE called a "favorable settlement" of a European tax matter.
Net income for the second quarter was $173 million, or 71 cents
a share, compared with net income of $125 million, or 49 cents a
share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 1% to $611 million from a year
earlier, including a $2 million negative impact from
foreign-currency fluctuations.
NYSE's trading revenue got a boost from speculation in June
around interest-rate fluctuations, driving record trade in some of
NYSE's London-based financial futures contracts, Mr. Niederauer
said. Revenue from market data climbed after NYSE increased some
prices.
Michael Geltzeiler, chief financial officer for NYSE, said the
company has no anticipated date yet for closing its sale to ICE,
valued at about $10.1 billion as of the companies' closing share
prices Monday.
Analysts anticipated that Tuesday's earnings release will be
NYSE's last as a standalone company, however. NYSE executives on
Tuesday didn't take questions from analysts, deferring these to
ICE's own earnings conference call scheduled for Aug. 6.
Atlanta-based ICE in December struck a deal to buy NYSE in a
deal seen creating the world's second-largest exchange operator by
valuation.
-The Paris bureau contributed to this article.
Write to Jacob Bunge at jacob.bunge@wsj.com
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