Euronext Company

NYSE Euronext, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, agreed Thursday to buy the American Stock Exchange for $260 million to capture a bigger share of the fast-growing markets for trading options and exchange-traded funds. Under the deal, members of the 165-year-old Amex would receive shares of NYSE Euronext as well as proceeds from the sale of the Amex building in Manhattan.

NYSE Group Inc. is close to making a bid to merge with Euronext, Europe's second-largest stock exchange, to create a transatlantic securities market, people with knowledge of the situation said. The owner of the New York Stock Exchange may offer cash and stock for Euronext as early as today, said the sources, who declined to be identified before the bid was announced. NYSE Group Chief Executive John Thain is accelerating the Big Board's push overseas after Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.

The New York Stock Exchange ratcheted up its fight to become the world's first transatlantic stock trading center Monday, making a $10.2-billion cash-and-stock bid for European exchange operator Euronext -- an offer that Euronext called the best on the table. A combination of NYSE Group Inc. and Euronext would create a $21-billion company called NYSE Euronext with trading in stocks, corporate bonds, futures, options, derivatives and commodities on two continents.

Capping weeks of negotiations, the New York Stock Exchange's parent company agreed Thursday to merge with Euronext, which operates stock markets in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon and a major futures market in London. The deal, which had been widely anticipated in recent days, would create the first transatlantic securities market. It also would pressure rivals, such as the Nasdaq Stock Market, to consolidate as well. NYSE Group Inc.

The New York Stock Exchange moved a big step closer to its planned merger with European stock exchange operator Euronext on Tuesday after the latter's shareholders overwhelmingly approved the deal. Shareholders of NYSE Group Inc., parent of the NYSE, will vote on the $14-billion merger today. The deal would create the first transatlantic stock market. Euronext operates stock exchanges in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Portugal, and a futures market in Britain.