NASDAQ linking with British and German joint venture

Under the deal NASDAQ will participate in a joint venture with the LSE-Borse combination
to offer trading in Europe’s high technology companies, including those listed on Germany’s Neuer Markt and the LSE’s techMARK.

NASDAQ’s initial listings will include several hundred companies from Neuer Markt and techMARK, the NASDAQ 100 companies, and other major U.S. and non-European international securities and exchange traded funds.

The new venture will be 50% owned by NASDAQ Europe and 50% by iX. It will be incorporated in the U.K., operated from London, but run under German market rules. The Neuer Markt and techMARK will disappear, although it will initially use the Xetra system.

The new market will combine a central limit order book with the best elements of a dealer-based system. The market will offer European investors an internet-accessible, high-performance, low-cost trading platform linked on a global basis with NASDAQ branded markets in the U.S. and Asia.

“We have seen huge interest from the marketplace since announcing our intention to launch a globally linked, pan-European trading platform, and I am delighted that iX and NASDAQ are creating this joint venture,” said Frank Zarb, chairman and CEO of the NASD.