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Nyse Euronext is working on the development of a bond trading platform that can handle fixed-interest securities from both the
In August this year Nyse Euronext sold its stake in MBE Holding, the joint venture company that owns the MTS fixed income network, to Borsa Italiana for EUR100 million.
Borsa Italiana exercised an option to buy out Euronext's stake in MBE Holding, which was triggered by the merger of Nyse and Euronext last year.
The stake sale followed reports earlier in the year that London-based interdealer broker Icap was looking to buy the electronic MTS platform from LSE and Borsa Italiana and had appointed Lexicon Partners to advise it on a bid.
Icap's chief executive, Michael Spencer, told Financial Times reporters that Icap was better equipped than the LSE to run the bond platform because it already had extensive similar, global electronic operations. He also argued that an acquisition of MTS by Icap would "bring about the globalisation of the eurozone government bond market for the first time ever".
In January this year US securities firm Goldman Sachs withdrew completely from the European government bond trading platform, following a temporary ban for allegedly violating market-making rules.