IntercontinentalExchange has agreed to buy NYSE Euronext in an $8.2 billion deal intended to exploit the sweeping changes hitting exchanges and global markets.

The deal will see 12-year old start-up ICE take over a 208- year-old institution, although it has committed itself to retaining the iconic NYSE building on Wall Street. Under the terms of the deal, ICE has agreed to pay $33.12 per NYSE share in a mixture of cash and shares.

The duo said they would have headquarters in Atlanta, where ICE is based, and New York. IntercontinentalExchange is also considering exploring a separate listing of NYSE’s European equities trading businesses.

The move would push ICE, which has developed by offering trading in energy, emissions and commodities, into trading listed interest rate derivatives, the world’s largest asset class.

That is a market which exchanges hope to exploit when an overhaul of the derivatives market comes into force in the US next year.

Global regulators want to push more of the over-the-counter derivatives market on to transparent trading venues such as exchanges, with deals processed through clearing houses. Similar moves are expected to become mandatory in Europe in the next 18 months.

Exchange operators such as ICE, NYSE and CME Group, the world’s largest futures exchange operator, are hoping to exploit the changes by offering listed products that mimic off-exchange assets, such as interest rate swaps.

Many of the world’s largest exchanges also run clearing houses, which will move to the forefront of regulators’ efforts to safeguard the world’s financial system against systemic risk.

ICE chief executive Jeff Sprecher will remain chief executive of the enlarged company while Duncan Niederauer, chief executive of NYSE Euronext, will be chief executive of NYSE Group and president of the enlarged company. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012