Nasdaq, ICE reaffirm interest in NYSE Euronext

US securities exchanges Nasdaq and ICE "reaffirmed their interest in acquiring" NYSE Euronext, in response to a rejection by NYSE Euronext of their bid to create the world's biggest exchange. "We will continue meeting with investors, customers and regulators to highlight the many ways in which our proposal is superior, not only for the stockholders of NYSE Euronext, but also for market participants in the US and Europe which would benefit from a more efficient and competitive marketplace," said Jeffrey Sprecher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ICE. The superior cash and stock proposal from NASDAQ OMX and ICE provides NYSE Euronext's stockholders with immediate value and a higher premium to the proposal from Deutsche Boerse, ICE and Nasdaq argued in a statement. Nasdaq and ICE had joined forces Friday to make an $11.3 billion bid for NYSE Euronext, putting a spoiler on a rival bid to create the world's biggest exchange. Moving to secure their own futures as exchanges around the world consolidate, Nasdaq and the Intercontinental Exchange offered NYSE shareholders 19 percent more per share than a rival bid from Deutsche Boerse. The deal would would see markets in Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon and New York change hands, while keeping Wall Street's fabled exchange under US ownership. If the bid is successful, NYSE Euronext would be broken up, with its Liffe derivatives business going to ICE while Nasdaq OMX -- best known for trading the world's leading technology firms -- would take its stock markets in New York, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon. The bid is also a play to US nationalist sentiment, after the Deutsche Boerse move sparked complaints that the NYSE big Board, an icon of American capitalist might known to television viewers around the world for its hectic trading floor, would come under control of foreigners.