U.S. Department of Justice approves Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext merger

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today approved the merger of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext. This represents an important regulatory milestone for the merger. The DOJ’s clearance was contingent upon the International Securities Exchange (ISE) agreeing to sell its 31.5 percent stake in Direct Edge, a U.S. stock exchange. Until completing the divestiture, ISE’s ownership in Direct Edge will be held passively.  

ISE is 100 percent owned by Eurex, which is the derivatives exchange of Deutsche Börse. ISE partnered with Direct Edge in late 2008 when the ISE equity market operations (known as ISE Stock Exchange) became a wholly owned subsidiary of Direct Edge. In return, ISE gained a minority stake in Direct Edge.

The merger of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext is subject to further closing conditions. The approval by the EU Commission is still outstanding. The EU Commission has announced to make a final decision by no later than February 9, 2012. Further approvals by the relevant national stock exchange supervisory authorities are also outstanding.

About ISE

The International Securities Exchange (ISE) operates a leading U.S. options exchange and offers options trading on over 2,000 underlying equity, ETF, index, and FX products.  As the first all-electronic options exchange in the U.S., ISE transformed the options industry by creating efficient markets through innovative market structure and technology.  Regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a member-owner of The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), ISE provides investors with a transparent marketplace for price and liquidity discovery on centrally cleared options products.  ISE continues to expand its marketplace through the ongoing development of enhanced trading functionality, new products, and market data services. As a complement to its options business, ISE has expanded its reach into multiple asset classes through strategic investments in financial marketplaces and services that foster technology innovation and market efficiency.  Through minority investments, ISE participates in the securities lending and equities markets.  ISE also licenses its proprietary Longitude technology for trading in event-driven derivatives markets.

ISE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eurex, a leading global derivatives exchange. Eurex itself is jointly operated by Deutsche Börse AG (Ticker: DB1) and SIX Swiss Exchange AG. Together, Eurex and ISE are the global market leader in individual equity and equity index derivatives. For more information, visit www.ise.com.