Brussels, 19/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, Role C. Campos, one of the five Commissioners for the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, was keen to point out that a possible merger between the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the European stock market group Euronext would not automatically lead to an extension of American rules to companies quoted in Europe, for whom European regulation would continue to apply. Mr Campos was in Brussels for meetings with Commissioner Charlie McCreevy (taxation, internal market).
Mr Campos explained that it is quite simply not true to say that after a merger between the NYSE and Euronext, the Sarbanes-Oxley ACT (very strict accounting rules apply in the USA since 2002 following the eruption of a number of accounting and stock market scandals) will be imposed on companies quoted on Euronext, as feared by the Europeans. He explained that “there's more of a chance of the Eiffel Tower being dismantled and reassembled in Las Vegas”. Mr Campos Lisbon also pleaded for any purely nationalistic resistance in Europe against NYSE's takeover of Euronext to be avoided and stressed that this would be a “partnership of equals” that responded to an economic and strategic logic, rather than a simple stock market takeover by the US giant. “It's sure that within the NYSE, there are concerns that the deal could be subject to a political backlash. The transaction is hugely respectful and valuable for European interests: headquarters could not move, there would be not combination which means that there is no reduction of jobs to be expected. It's not an acquisition, but rather a partnership, a merger of equals which would ensure that the European aspects (of Euronext) would remain European”. The New York Stock Exchange has proposed the acquisition of Euronext in a deal worth $10 bn and would create a genuinely trans-Atlantic stock exchange. The management of Euronext has already approved the project, but shareholders from the European stock market group have not yet made a decision.
At the beginning of July, Commissioner McCreevy underlined that European stock exchanges could not be subjected to the New York rule. Speaking at a seminar organised by “Paris Europlace” on 5 July, Mr McCreevy provided assurances that European regulation for companies quoted in Europe would prevail in the event of stock market consolidation. He hammered home the fact that, “companies quoted in Europe have to be regulated by European regulators”. He also reaffirmed the fact that it would be up to Euronext shareholders to choose between a merger with the NYSE or the Deutsche Börse. He added that he had no particular convictions on this issue and that it was up to shareholders to decide.