Thursday, April 27, 2006
NYSE Group plans to raise $1.7bn in offering
The NYSE Group, which controls the New York Stock Exchange, yesterday announced that it would try to raise $1.7bn in its secondary equity offering, which is expected early next month.
The amount is slightly lower than some estimates, but will still make the offering one of the biggest deals of the year.
The offering effectively completes the NYSE's demutualisation, following its merger last month with Archipelago Holdings, by allowing its existing members, or "seatholders" to sell their positions.
Previous holders of Archipelago are also raising cash through the offering.
Investment banks involved include JP Morgan, Bank of America, Bear Stearns, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies & Company, and UBS.
Gerald Putnam, formerly chief executive of Archipelago, will be selling 373,000 shares as part of the offering, which would be worth $25.7m at yesterday's prices. This reduces his overall stake from 1.1 to 0.9 per cent.
Goldman Sachs, a backer of Archipelago, will reduce its stake in the NYSE from 5.8 to 4.7 per cent, while General Atlantic, the other big backer of Archipelago, will reduce its stake from 6.7 to 5.5 per cent.
Separately, Marshall Carter, the NYSE's president, complained in testimony to Congress that US corporate governance regulations were hampering the exchange in the competition for international listings of companies. Saying that the costs of regulation in the US following the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance regulation had contributed to a sharp fall in international companies raising equity in the US, he added that overseas listings were helping issuers to circumvent US rules.
He said: "The factors that are causing more non-US companies to raise capital overseas instead of in the US are denying US investors the benefits of transparency and investor protection that are the hallmarks of US registered offerings."
The London Stock Exchange's success in winning international listings is a key element in its appeal to the big US exchanges.
The amount is slightly lower than some estimates, but will still make the offering one of the biggest deals of the year.
The offering effectively completes the NYSE's demutualisation, following its merger last month with Archipelago Holdings, by allowing its existing members, or "seatholders" to sell their positions.
Previous holders of Archipelago are also raising cash through the offering.
Investment banks involved include JP Morgan, Bank of America, Bear Stearns, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies & Company, and UBS.
Gerald Putnam, formerly chief executive of Archipelago, will be selling 373,000 shares as part of the offering, which would be worth $25.7m at yesterday's prices. This reduces his overall stake from 1.1 to 0.9 per cent.
Goldman Sachs, a backer of Archipelago, will reduce its stake in the NYSE from 5.8 to 4.7 per cent, while General Atlantic, the other big backer of Archipelago, will reduce its stake from 6.7 to 5.5 per cent.
Separately, Marshall Carter, the NYSE's president, complained in testimony to Congress that US corporate governance regulations were hampering the exchange in the competition for international listings of companies. Saying that the costs of regulation in the US following the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance regulation had contributed to a sharp fall in international companies raising equity in the US, he added that overseas listings were helping issuers to circumvent US rules.
He said: "The factors that are causing more non-US companies to raise capital overseas instead of in the US are denying US investors the benefits of transparency and investor protection that are the hallmarks of US registered offerings."
The London Stock Exchange's success in winning international listings is a key element in its appeal to the big US exchanges.
