US And EU Regulators Meet To Discuss Possible NYSE-Euronext Merger

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, London

29 September 2006

US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman, Christopher Cox and the Chairman's Committee of the Euronext regulators met in Lisbon on Tuesday to discuss the potential alliance between the NYSE Group, Inc. and Euronext N.V. into NYSE Euronext.

On June 1, 2006, the NYSE Group and Euronext NV announced the signing of a combination agreement in order to create a new group, NYSE Euronext Inc. The holding company is set to be incorporated in the United States, and shares would be listed on NYSE and on Euronext Paris.

The proposed combination is subject to prior authorizations by Euronext's regulators and, in some cases, Ministers of Finance, on the European side, and by the SEC in the United States.

The SEC chief and Euronext regulatory officials looked at the development of a possible framework for consultation and mutual cooperation in the interest of meeting their respective regulatory mandates in the areas of investor protection, orderly functioning and integrity of the markets.

The two regulatory groups also affirmed that joint ownership or affiliation of markets alone would not lead to regulation from one jurisdiction becoming applicable in the other, and stated their shared belief in the importance of local regulation of local markets.

"The United States is committed to close cooperation and collaboration with our partners in other nations as securities markets and financial services expand globally," Chairman Cox announced, adding that:

"These meetings have gone far in focusing our joint efforts to promote healthy and increasingly efficient capital markets for the benefit of investors."

In a statement released following the meeting on Tuesday, the SEC confirmed that:

"Regulators are not taking a position on the proposed combination. They recognize that shareholders will ultimately decide on whether the proposed combination will go forward. Therefore, the framework for regulatory cooperation would come into effect once shareholders and relevant authorities have given their final decisions."

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