Investigation Overview
Dec. 20, 2012 (Shareholders Foundation) -- An investigation on behalf of investors in NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) shares was announced concerning whether the offer by IntercontinentalExchange to acquire NYSE Euronext for a value of approximately $33.12 per NYSE:NYX share and the takeover process are unfair to investors in NYSE:NYX shares.
The investigation by a law firm concerns whether certain officers and directors of NYSE Euronext breached their fiduciary duties owed NYSE:NYX investors in connection with the proposed acquisition.
On December 20, 2012, IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), and NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) announced an agreement for IntercontinentalExchange to acquire NYSE Euronext in a stock-and-cash transaction.
Under the terms of the agreement the transaction is currently valued at $33.12 per NYSE Euronext share, or a total of approximately $8.2 billion, based on the closing price of ICEs stock on December 19, 2012.
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However, shares of NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) traded in 2011 as high as $40.89 per share and NYSE Euronexts financial performance improved lately. In fact, NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) reported that its annual Revenue rose from over $4.24 billion in 2010 to over $4.33 billion in 2011 and its Net Income increased from $577 million in 2010 to $619 million in 2011.
Therefore the investigation a law firm concerns whether the proposed transaction is unfair to NYSE:NYX stockholders. Specifically, the investigation focuses on whether the NYSE Euronext Board of Directors undertook an adequate sales process, adequately shopped the company before entering into the transaction, maximized shareholder value by negotiating the best price, and acted in the shareholders' best interests in connection with the proposed sale.