European Union regulators vetoed a plan by Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1) and NYSE Euronext (NYX) to create the world’s biggest exchange after concluding that the merger would hurt competition. The deal would have led to a “near-monopoly” in European exchange-traded derivatives, the European Commission said in an e-mailed statement today. “Any efficiencies would not be substantial enough to outweigh the harm to customers caused by the merger.” Deutsche Boerse agreed to acquire its New York rival in a deal valued at $9.5 billion when it was announced last February. Since then, the value has plummeted to about $7.3 billion as Deutsche Boerse’s shares fell. The companies appealed directly to commission President Jose Barroso last month to try to salvage their merger, arguing that a ban would harm European exchanges and drive business to other parts of the world. “The EU Commission’s decision is based on an unrealistically narrow definition of the market that does no justice to the global nature of competition in the market for derivatives. We therefore regard the decision as wrong,” Deutsche Boerse said in an e-mailed statement.
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