Brussels, 16/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - Deutsche Börse has decided not to pursue its plan for an exchange combination with Euronext, the German group having withdrawn from the race for acquisition of the pan-European group one week after having suspended its talks with Borsa Italiana. Although it had shown considerable interest in acquiring its pan-European rival, the Frankfurt exchange announced on 15 November that it refused to pay too high a price for the transaction. “Deutsche Börse on Wednesday decided not to pursue a combination with Euronext”, the German group states in a press release, adding: “This decision was based on the assessment that a transaction supported by both sides will not be achievable and - in the light of recent share price developments - a transaction would no longer create value for Deutsche Börse shareholders”. The way is now open for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which also has its sights on Euronext. The latter has even expressed its preference for combination with the American group, whose rising values over the past six months present a more attractive proposition in the eyes of shareholders on the pan-European exchange (which groups the financial exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon). Although NASDAQ has set its heart on the London Stock Exchange, stock exchange consolidation in Europe seems to be continuing in the form of transatlantic alliances, while competition could take a form never seen before. The announcement that same day of the creation by seven international business banks (Citigroup, Crédit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS) of a platform of share transactions in the euro zone prefigures bitter competition with traditional exchanges, which have hitherto held the monopoly. The project is due to be launched in 2007, coinciding with the entry into force, on 1 November 2007, of the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which provides for the creation of these new multilateral trading facilities in order, among other things, to make the exchange of securities swifter, safer and less expensive. (ab)