ICE, NYSE Tweak Merger Deal

--ICE's amended deal to acquire NYSE Euronext left the financial terms unchanged

--Includes new holding company that would retain the ICE ticker symbol for the combined group

--Holding company would run the NYSE units, including the New York Stock Exchange, and ICE's existing commodity markets as subsidiaries

IntercontinentalExchange Inc. ( ICE ) on Tuesday announced an amended deal to acquire NYSE Euronext ( NYX ) that left the financial terms unchanged but included a new holding company that would retain the ICE ticker symbol for the combined group.

The exchange operator said in a regulatory filing that the new IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc. holding company would run the NYSE units -- including the New York Stock Exchange -- and ICE's existing commodity markets as subsidiaries.

The planned corporate parent means that the NYSE, a global touchstone of capitalism and among the financial world's best-known brands, will no longer enjoy top billing under its new ownership, though the Big Board's vaunted brand will carry on under ICE Group, according to ICE spokeswoman Kelly Loeffler.

Atlanta-based ICE is the larger company by market value. The two companies agreed to revise the agreement "to facilitate the implementation of the governance provisions that will be required to be put into effect," according to the document. The new structure ensures compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines around ownership in stock and options exchanges, Ms. Loeffler said.

ICE announced its planned acquisition of NYSE in December. Shares in both companies have since climbed sharply, valuing the combined entity at $20.8 billion, which would make it the world's largest by market capitalization.

The NYSE's household-name status likely won't be diminished by its move under the planned ICE Group, according to Bernard McSherry, a former NYSE floor official who now is an assistant professor of finance at New Jersey City University.

"People acknowledge that exchange models are evolving rather rapidly," Mr. McSherry said. "It's unlikely that any parent organization would dispense with the NYSE brand because it's one of the most valuable things that the exchange has."

Questions over the future moniker of the NYSE's parent company drove some consternation two years ago, when NYSE agreed to a merger deal with German exchange group Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE, DBOEF). Some, such as Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), called for the assurances that the new entity retain "New York" in its name or to put the NYSE acronym first, despite Deutsche Boerse being the larger of the two partners by valuation. That deal collapsed under opposition from European Union lawmakers, with no name revealed.

In December, Mr. Schumer said he was "pleased" that ICE and NYSE planned to "keep the New York Stock Exchange name and protect the brand."

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