Nasdaq bids $3.3 bln for Nordic peer OMX: report
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. (NDAQ.O) has made an 23 billion Swedish crown ($3.33 billion) bid for its Nordic peer OMX OMX.ST, Swedish business daily Dagens Industri quoted sources as saying on Thursday.
The paper said on its Web page that the top U.S. electronic stock exchange had offered 192 crowns per share for the Nordic and Baltic exchange owner and technology firm, adding that the bid level was uncertain.
It said that the OMX board had received the indicative bid nearly two weeks ago and that OMX had last week opened up its books for Nasdaq due diligence. OMX's board was set to meet on Thursday to discuss the bid, the paper said.
OMX spokesman Niclas Lilja declined to comment on the report.
OMX owns and operates the exchanges in Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Reykjavik and the Baltic countries.
In a Reuters interview from end-March, OMX Chief Executive Magnus Bocker was coy about persistent rumors linking OMX with the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) or a U.S. partner.
The LSE rejected an offer from OMX in 2000.
Consolidation in the exchange industry is being driven by the needs of investors to trade across borders and time zones, pressure from regulators to cut retail trading costs and new technology, which has pushed down prices.
One big challenge to exchanges will be the European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which many analysts see as drawing liquidity away from bourses to banks, which will be able to set up their own exchange-like marketplaces.
The Swedish government -- OMX's second-biggest owner after investment firm Investor (INVEb.ST) -- has said it plans to sell its 6.6 percent stake in OMX as part of the country's biggest privatization program ever.
