The New York Stock Exchange unveiled an €8 billion share and cash bid for Euronext today to counter a rival proposal from Deutsche Boerse.
The proposed alliance would create a transatlantic exchange giant with a market capitalisation of $21 billion and headquartered in New York, the NYSE Group said.
The proposed merger would also yield cost and revenue synergies of $375 million, the NYSE said, which analysts said would be higher than the synergies of around €250 million that a Euronext-Deutsche Boerse tie-up would generate.
Euronext said in a statement its board would meet this afternoon to consider the two proposals and other indications of interest.
The operator of the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon bourses, and of London's Euronext.liffe derivatives exchange, had on Friday rebuffed a Deutsche Boerse offer as "nothing new".
Deutsche Boerse today denied a report in the Financial Timesthat it was considering a 90-euro-per-share bid for Euronext.