It's on! The Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange, as expected, have taken their battle for NYSE Euronext hostile. Under the terms of the Nasdaq-ICE offer, one common share of NYSE Euronext would be exchanged for $14.24 in cash, 0.4069s share of Nasdaq OMX common stock and 0.1436 shares of ICE common stock. This amounts to a roughly $11 billion deal.

This is a dramatic move of course. But the reality does not change tremendously for NYSE Euronext shareholders. They must still choose between two competing offers.

"The NYSE Euronext Board has continually challenged the seriousness of our proposal and refused to engage us in discussion despite the positive feedback we have received from their stockholders. The commencement of this exchange offer should convince the NYSE Euronext Board of the seriousness of our intentions," said Nasdaq OMX CEO Bob Greifeld in a statement. "We continue to welcome the opportunity to enter into meaningful discussion with the NYSE Euronext Board in order to achieve a transaction that is in the best interests of their stockholders."

Complete terms of the exchange offer are coming via a regulatory filing. My sense is that the offer was well timed. Nasdaq OMX gained some traction at the NYSE Euronext annual meeting, where shareholders were not shy in their belief that the NYSE Euronext board has not given the Nasdaq-ICE offer enough thought.

The big question now is how NYSE Euronext will react. It has been playing antitrust issues as a trump card of sorts. But the pressure to tinker with the original deal is growing.  

For  more:
- here's the announcement

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