Nasdaq agrees to buy Sweden's OMX for $3.7 billion

Mumbai: US electronic bourse Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. has agreed to acquire Sweden''s OMX AB for $3.7 billion (1.9 billion pounds), as it seeks to expand abroad following a series of rival stock market mergers.

The move comes after Nasdaq''s two failed attempts to acquire London Stock Exchange Group Plc.

Based on Nasdaq''s May 23 closing price, the offer valued OMX at 208.1 crowns per share, or 25.1 billion crowns, the companies said.

The Swedish government, which owns 6.6 per cent of OMX but has the company on its privatisation list, said it would take a look at the deal before deciding on its stance. No pronouncement on the offer would come before parliament deliberations on privatisation on June 20, it added.

The deal brings together the largest electronic stock market in the US and the owner of the share markets in Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Iceland and the Baltic states as well as OMX''s market technology business, which accounts for over a third of its annual turnover.

This combination provides our organisations with the ability to grow and accelerate the global flow of equity capital," said Nasdaq''s chief executive, Robert Greifeld, who will be chief executive of the combined stock exchange.

The combined exchange will be called Nasdaq OMX Group and list about 4,000 companies, with a market value of about $5.5 trillion, including Volvo AB, the world''s second-largest truckmaker, Nokia Oyj, the biggest maker of mobile phones, and Microsoft Corp. With pro-forma revenue of more than $1.2 billion in 2006, the combined entity will have 2,349 employees in 22 countries, the exchanges said.