While not as glamorous as some earlier aborted deals involving Nasdaq, the Easdaq transaction at last gives Nasdaq a European foothold. Nasdaq said it will invest 70 million euros ($62.7 million), including intangibles such as the value of its brand, for a 58% share of Easdaq, which will be rebranded as Nasdaq Europe. That stake is expected to shrink to 51 per cent after eight "major securities firms" from the US and Europe take stakes, said Nasdaq chairman Frank Zarb, who declined to name the firms involved. Lehman Brothers said it is likely to be one of them. About 14 million euros of Nasdaq's investment will be in cash, and the eight securities firms will contribute about the same amount in cash, said a person familiar with the matter. Easdaq, which had been running out of money, brings a state-of-the-art trading system that should be installed by summer.

Mr Zarb said the deal, which is expected to be approved by Easdaq shareholders on Friday, doesn't represent the end of Nasdaq's European ambitions. "We are in continuous dialogue," he said, with Europe's three major exchanges - the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse and Euronext, itself a merger of the French, Dutch and Belgian markets -"because sooner or later there is going to be consolidation at that level and we want to be a part of it."

The Wall Street Journal