Markets

Nasdaq: The exchange no-one wants to team up with

By Michael Tsang, Whitney Kisling and Jennifer A. Johnson (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-02-17 13:37

NEW YORK - For all the acquisitions being struck by exchanges around the world, no bourse is less wanted than Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.

Shares of Nasdaq, the New York-based owner of 12 markets cobbled together in the past five years, sell for about 11.6 times each dollar of estimated profit for 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's less than every other publicly traded bourse and about half the price that the average securities exchange commands. Nasdaq has also borrowed more money relative to its equity than any exchange that hasn't already reached a merger agreement, the data show.

While NYSE Euronext's Duncan Niederauer sold the 219-year-old company to Deutsche Boerse AG to create the world's largest exchange, Nasdaq Chief Executive Officer Robert Greifeld still faces the task of boosting returns for shareholders who lost money in the past five years as rivals gained 44 percent. Nasdaq hasn't grown fast enough to attract the largest remaining standalone markets in the United States, IntercontinentalExchange Inc (ICE) and CME Group Inc, according to Capstone Global Markets LLC.

"You aren't going to do a deal just because your peers are doing a deal," said Sachin Shah, a special situations and merger arbitrage strategist at Capstone Global in New York. "You want to grow your market share. If you look at the growth profile of the Nasdaq relative to ICE or CME, it's fairly low. That point shouldn't be lost. I don't think ICE or CME are going to sacrifice their shareholders just to weed out costs."

Silvia Davi, a Nasdaq spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Deutsche Boerse's $9.53 billion takeover of New York-based NYSE Euronext was announced on Tuesday, less than a week after London Stock Exchange Group Plc agreed to purchase TMX Group Inc of Toronto for about $3.1 billion. In October, Singapore Exchange Ltd offered $8.3 billion for Sydney-based ASX Ltd, which runs the Australian stock market.

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Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd, currently the world's biggest exchange operator at $23.1 billion in market capitalization, said last week that it's open to "alliances, partnerships and other relationships."

While the deals have fueled speculation of more mergers and acquisitions, investors haven't been willing to reward Nasdaq with a higher valuation. The company's stock closed at $28.28 on Tuesday, giving it a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

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