One huge market

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), chaired by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, has decided that the proposed merger between German stock exchange operator Deutsche Börse and New York's NYSE Euronext market poses no risk to national security. The decision was announced Tuesday by Deutsche Börse.

Several US government departments approved the decision of the inter-agency committee, which investigates foreign business interests in the country.

This means the fusion has cleared another hurdle, though more regulatory authorities on both sides of the Atlantic still have to approve the deal. The entire process is expected to take at least until the end of the year.

The biggest obstacles are the cartel offices, especially the more exacting one overseen by the European Comission, which has raised concerns about how the merger would affect competition in the derivatives market.

EU probe

The EU has already launched a probe into the fusion, which has until December 13 to reach a conclusion.

"The proposed merger would remove a strong competitor from the market and would give the merged company by far the leading position in derivatives trading in Europe," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement earlier in August.

The commission said pension funds, mutual funds and retail banks as well as professional brokers and investment banks would be most affected.

The combined group has been valued at 17.6 billion euros ($25 billion). Shareholders controlling more than 80 percent of Deutsche Börse approved the merger on July 14, after NYSE Euronext shareholders gave the deal their blessing.

In a joint statement, the two companies said they had "fully anticipated" the EU's investigation and they "remain confident the planned combination will be approved."

Author: Ben Knight (dapd, Reuters)
Editor: Sam Edmonds