NASDAQ to Acquire BRUT ECN
New York, N.Y.—The NASDAQ Stock
Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ® ”; OTCBB: NDAQ) today announced it
has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Brut LLC, the
owner and operator of the BRUT ECN, for a total consideration of
$190 million in cash, from SunGard Data Systems Inc. (NYSE: SDS).
The board of directors of each company has approved the transaction,
which is expected to close during the third quarter of 2004, subject
to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval. It is
anticipated the transaction will be accretive to NASDAQ shareholders
within 12 months from closing.
The Brut acquisition is intended to enhance NASDAQ's
systems by providing NASDAQ with the ability to route orders via an
internal broker-dealer to multiple liquidity pools in keeping with
changes proposed by Reg NMS, and to improve FIX connectivity.
Bob Greifeld, president and chief executive officer
of NASDAQ, stated, “The addition of the Brut ECN to NASDAQ's market
center is designed to augment NASDAQ's existing position by
deepening NASDAQ's liquidity pool. In addition to generating
incremental revenue, the transaction complements our strategy to
provide a lower-cost and more efficient trading environment, which
ultimately better serves our customers.” He continued, “This is just
one more step in NASDAQ's multi-pronged strategy to increase our
share of trading, raise the number of NASDAQ-listed companies,
reinforce NASDAQ's status as the premier U.S. equity market and
serve investors better.”
In addition to, and conditioned upon completion of
the acquisition, NASDAQ and SunGard will enter into hosting and
multi-year processing agreements for SunGard to provide a real-time
order-to-settlement securities processing system for NASDAQ trades.
Brut will continue to operate seamlessly on behalf of its customers,
providing superior service and product functionality.
NASDAQ was advised in this transaction by Merrill
Lynch & Co.
NASDAQ will host a media briefing via telephone
today regarding this announcement. Senior management will be
available for questions from journalists following brief remarks.
Details are as follows:
Who: Robert Greifeld,
President & Chief Executive
Officer
David
Warren, Chief Financial Officer
When: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 11
a.m. - Noon ET
Telephone: 800.857.7479
(U.S.)
1.630.395.0128 (International)
Leader:
Ms. Bethany Sherman
Password: NASDAQ
Replays will be available from about one hour after
the briefing concludes to 11:59 a.m. ET on May 26. Replays can be
accessed by dialing the following numbers:
Telephone: 800.925.3903 (Toll
Free)
402.220.4159
(Toll)
Passcode: 5225
NASDAQ is the largest U.S. electronic stock market.
With approximately 3,300 companies, it lists more companies and, on
average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. It
is home to category-defining companies that are leaders across all
areas of business including technology, retail, communications,
financial services, transportation, media and biotechnology. NASDAQ
is the primary market for trading NASDAQ-listed stocks.
Approximately 51% of NASDAQ-listed shares traded are reported to
NASDAQ systems. For more information about NASDAQ, visit the NASDAQ
Web site at http://www.nasdaq.com/or the NASDAQ
NewsroomSM at http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/.
About Brut
Brut, LLC owns and operates
the Brut ECN, an alternative trading system that offers a low-cost
execution utility for the trading community without sacrificing
technology, execution quality or customer service. Brut offers its
customers participation in The NASDAQ Market Center for increased
liquidity and enhanced order routing capabilities, and allows
institutional clients to use the Brut Sponsorship Program to trade
electronically while still maintaining their traditional brokerage
relationships. ( Member SIPC, NASD, CSE, BSE. 55 Broadway, 9th
Floor, New York, NY 10006)
About SunGard
SunGard
is a global leader in integrated software and processing solutions,
primarily for financial services. SunGard also helps
information-dependent enterprises of all types to ensure the
continuity of their business. SunGard serves more than 20,000
customers in more than 50 countries, including the world's 50
largest financial services companies. SunGard (NYSE:SDS) is a member
of the S&P 500 and has annual revenue of $3 billion Visit
SunGard at http://www.sungard.com/
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
The matters described herein may contain
forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties
or other factors beyond the control of The NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc.
(the "Company"), which could cause actual results to differ
materially from historical results, performance or other
expectations and from any opinions or statements expressed or
implied with respect to future periods. These factors include, but
are not limited to, the Company's ability to implement its strategic
initiatives, economic, political and market conditions and
fluctuations, government and industry regulation, interest rate
risk, U.S. and global competition, and other factors detailed in the
Company's annual report on Form 10-K, and periodic reports filed
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no
obligation to release any revisions to any forward-looking
statements.