Nasdaq invests $50m in new DIFX shares

(JACK DABAGHIAN)    

Borse Dubai said on Thursday that Nasdaq invested $50 million for newly issued shares in Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX), which will give it a 33.3 per cent stake in the company.

The Dubai bourse on Thursday completed its OMX transactions with The Nasdaq Stock Market by selling 117,227,931 shares in Swedish exchange to Nasdaq.

This represents about 97.2 per cent of the total number of shares and votes in OMX. Borse Dubai now owns 8,800 shares in OMX, which represents 0.00007 per cent of the shares and votes of OMX.

The share capital of OMX consists of 120,640,467 shares.

In consideration, Borse Dubai has received 42,901,148 newly issued shares in Nasdaq and 11,678,630,352 Swedish krona in cash.

In addition, 17,660,367 newly issued Nasdaq shares have been deposited in an independently managed US-based trust for the economic benefit of Borse Dubai.

The shares held by the trust are eventually expected to be sold by it.

As part of the transactions, Nasdaq, OMX and Borse Dubai have entered into a technology licence and marketing agreement that gives Borse Dubai access to the technology platforms and proprietary systems of the Nasdaq OMX Group and future innovations.

The Nasdaq OMX Group is expected to have an in-depth industry know-how and competence that Borse Dubai can access.

Nasdaq and DIFX have entered into a trademark licence agreement that will grant DIFX a licence to use Nasdaq marks in relation to the DIFX business in certain territories and DIFX has the right to re-brand itself and use the Nasdaq name in association with the DIFX name in those territories.

“We are pleased to have successfully concluded this landmark deal. The completed transactions constitute a key milestone in establishing Dubai as one of the world’s leading financial centres.

"Nasdaq an Borse Dubai will together develop DIFX as a global exchange which will bridge the United States, Europe and the Middle East and further develop and link mature and emerging markets,” said Essa Kazim, Chairman of Borse Dubai.