NEW YORK, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Leading commodity exchange operator IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) has made through a regulatory barrier to acquire NYSE Euronext.
The two companies Tuesday announced the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act in connection with the proposed combination of the two companies.
Expiration of the HSR waiting period satisfies one of the regulatory requirements for completion of the merger. The waiting period expired Friday, February 15.
However, the transaction remains subject to other regulatory requirements, including competition approvals in Europe.
ICE announced the proposed acquisition of NYSE Euronext on December 20 to create a global exchange operator across diversified markets including both stocks and financial derivatives. The value agreed by the two companies was around 8.2 billion dollars.
The proposal raised an immediate question whether it can be approved by U.S. and European regulators, as similar merger proposals among exchanges had been declined before, but analysts generally believe the deal of ICE and NYSE is likely to be approved as the two companies said their operations are not overlapped and it does not involve nationalist concerns.
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