Deutsche Brse announced today that it had completed the acquisition of Cedel International, the owner of the other 50 per cent of Clearstream. All Cedel shareholders accepted Deutsche Brse’s offer.
Cedel shareholders received a total of Europs 1.76 billion euros: 1.6 billion euros for Clearstream plus 0.16 billion euros representing the final net value of Cedel’s remaining assets.
This sum is large enough to rank as the most expensive transaction in the history of the stock exchange industry. It was financed by proceeds from Deutsche Brse’s IPO, the recent private placement of Deutsche Brse shares and by a commercial paper programme.
The integration of Clearstream will now proceed. Deutsche Brse expects that the full cost synergies of the transaction will be achieved by the end of 2004.