Markets Merger

A spokesman for Deutsche Boerse, however, declined comment on the report in German news weekly Der Spiegel. The magazine said Deutsche Boerse head Reto Francioni presented a report last week to his executive board on a possible merger.

"Deutsche Boerse Group has nothing to announce," the spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, adding that the company constantly reviewed options to increase the value of its assets.

"This includes regular contact with almost all the important market players," the spokesman added.

NYSE, which runs the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, merged last year with Euronext, which operates markets in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon, to become the world's biggest operator of financial markets. Boerse had previously attempted to take over Euronext.

NYSE at Frankfurt controls?´

Spiegel said a new trans-Atlantic merger would mean enormous changes to the operations of the Frankfurt exchange, with Francioni's review suggesting New York executives would take charge of Frankfurt stock trading.

Trading in derivatives, including futures and options, would be managed from Frankfurt, while settlements would be managed from Luxembourg under the proposal.

The proposal was for a takeover of Boerse in two stages, with the two sides establishing a joint holding company in the Netherlands that would make an offer to shareholders to buy Deutsche Boerse from them, Spiegel reported.

In the second stage, NYSE Euronext would merge with a US subsidiary of the Dutch-based holding company.

Francioni would be given the title of "chairman" of the new company, while Duncan Niederauer, who runs NYSE Euronext, would be chief executive.

Initially, the eight-man executive board and the 18-member non- executive board of directors would comprise half each from NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse.