ISE rallies 43% on Deutsche Boerse bid German firm would pay premium of nearly 50% in $2.8 billion deal By Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch Last Update: 10:26 AM ET Apr 30, 2007 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of International Securities Exchange, the operator of an electronic options- and stock-trading platform, jumped 43% in early trades Monday after the company confirmed it was in advanced talks to sell itself to Germany's Deutsche Boerse. Deutsche Boerse said it is negotiating to buy the company for $67.50 a share, or about $2.8 billion. The ISE said in a statement that the deal is subject to negotiation of final terms and must be approved by the company's board. 'I'm not sure if anything can be considered a surprise anymore when it comes to cross-border, cross-asset exchange partnerships or acquisitions.' â Brad Bailey, Aite Group The deal's current terms offer an almost 50% premium to holders of International Securities Exchange, a 7-year-old company known as ISE. It also ranks as the largest German bid for a U.S. financial company since Deutsche Bank paid $9.8 billion for Bankers Trust in November 1998.
I went long on Friday. I've been waiting for this to happen for months, so I frequently go long on this stock and hold overnight. Now, I'm waiting for another bid to come in and push it higher.
Thain was so far off the mark i.e. believing that that the Arca platform would be the NYSE vehicle into the options market. If truly intent on a rapid path to secure a foothold in the derivatives market, the NYSE would have made a friendly, attractive offer to ISE months ago...but this is a group that's often plagued by a 'if not built here' attitude.. (Their moronic attempt to jump start a bond trading platform is a another example) And given David Krell's experience at NYSE prior to creating ISE, its a fair guess that it would take a really big check to convince ISE that NYSE is the most likely partner, because it wouldn't be a 'shared vision of the future' and how to implement a global strategy. NASDAQ will undoubtedly want to jump into the fray, but they'd have to figure out how to reduce their LSE holdings to free up the capital.. I'm guessing (not betting on it), that ISE will trade at par before the shooting is over.
I've been doing the same thing to NDAQ, but now I own zero shares, hope that it won't run away. I'm disappointed that NYX is bouncing today, I'm hoping that it would go to $82. To me, NYX's recent deals in Japan and India are well positioning her to win the exchange war battle. Not to mention the frequent Cramer pump. Imagine NYX stepping in and buy BOT... it's a long shot. NDAQ needs to do something, else it will lose to NYX and everyone else for sure. It's a global game now. You snooze, you lose. Just in talk is not good enough, you have to place your bet. NMX and ICE are sleeping together, they need BOT to fight the battle. The growth is now in derivatives, penny options is going to increase the volume for options trading. ISE is an important piece to own. Maybe NDAQ will bite it. ISE also has connection to TSX, maybe TSX will step up the plate this time? In general, I don't mind owning this sector, it's like casino, they will never lose money. All I care is the growth factor. Meanwhile my ISE market data has been halted...
I can't even believe it - I've been buying this stock every Friday and selling on every Monday for the past month for this exact reason, and forgot to this past Friday because I was extremely busy.... well that cost me
if only I had known that the ISE had started offering forex options in mid april ... wonder if that was the "kicker" that made them get a bid 2 weeks later