Borse Dubai rapped over OMX offer
24 Aug 2007
Sweden's financial watchdog, Financial Supervisory Authority, says Dubai's stock market operator Borse Dubai has broken takeover rules ahead of its bid for the Stockholm-based OMX that runs the Nordic Exchange, which gives investors access to the biggest firms in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
The FSA said Borse Dubai had broken the law when it announced its plans to buy more than 25 per cent in OMX, indicating its interest in a takeover. However, as the financial services firm had subsequently rectified its error by launching an official $4 billion bid, the regulator ruled that it would not take any punitive action.
Even though the Swedish regulator is taking no action, it ruled that Borse Dubai had broken Swedish financial law a second time by acquiring a 10-per cent stake in OMX without applying to the regulator beforehand.
Borse Dubai could have faced a fine of up to 100-million Swedish kronor ($14 million), had the FSA decided to take punitive action.
Borse Dubai is currently locked in a takeover war against US electronic exchange, Nasdaq, to take over OMX. Its latest all-cash offer made on 9 August, beat a $3.7-billion recommended cash-and-share offer tabled by the US exchange operator in May.