US stock exchanges Nasdaq and ICE have reaffirmed their interest in acquiring NYSE Euronext.
The statement came in response to a rejection by NYSE Euronext of their bid to create the world's biggest exchange.
Nasdaq and ICE had joined forces to make an $11.3 billion bid for NYSE Euronext, putting a spoiler on a rival bid to create the world's biggest exchange.
Moving to secure their own futures as exchanges around the world consolidate, Nasdaq and the ICE offered NYSE shareholders 19% more per share than a rival bid from Deutsche Borse.
The deal would would see markets in Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon and New York change hands, while keeping Wall Street's fabled exchange under US ownership.
If the bid is successful, NYSE Euronext would be broken up, with its Liffe derivatives business going to ICE while Nasdaq OMX - best known for trading the world's leading technology firms - would take its stock markets in New York, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon.
The bid is also a play to US nationalist sentiment, after the Deutsche Borse move sparked complaints that the NYSE big board, an icon of American capitalism known to television viewers around the world for its hectic trading floor, would come under control of foreigners.
