Nordic regulators green light Dubai OMX bid

APPROVAL GAINED: Borse Dubai has had its bid for OMX approved by Nordic regulators. (Getty Images)

Scandinavian financial regulators have approved Dubai's takeover bid for Nordic exchange owner OMX, state-owned Borse Dubai announced on Saturday.

Borse Dubai said its offer of 265 Swedish crowns ($41.63) per share, valuing OMX at around $4.9 billion, had been approved by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and recognised by the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority and the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority.

OMX operates exchanges in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Reykjavik, Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius.

The offer is conditional on Borse Dubai becoming the owner of OMX with at least a 50% stake, or approximately 58.3 million shares, it said.

This amount does not include any additional shares tendered in the Borse Dubai offer, said Borse Dubai, the holding company for the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) and Dubai Financial Market (DFM).

The approvals come just a week after US authorities gave the green light for Borse Dubai's investment in Nasdaq, clearing the way for the US high-tech stock market to combine with OMX in a deal that will unite exchanges across the US, Europe and the Middle East.

Once Borse Dubai owns at least 67% of the shares of OMX, it will transfer all the stock it owns to Nasdaq. At the same time, Borse Dubai will make a minority investment in Nasdaq which in turn will take a minority holding in the DIFX.

The board OMX last week advised shareholders to accept the Borse Dubai bid and a subsequent planned acquisition by Nasdaq.

OMX shareholders will begin voting on the deal on Monday.

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