The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is to buy 5% of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSEI) for $115 million. Other investors, including Goldman Sachs, will buy stakes of a similar size, giving a US consortium a total holding of 20% of the NSEI, which is still owned mostly by the banks and brokers that used to be its members.
NYSE chief executive John Thain, who is now finalising a merger with Euronext, has also been in discussions with the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) aimed at forming an alliance. A tie-up between the two would give NYSE the lead in building a genuinely global securities trading platform. However, TSE is not listed, and the Japanese are understood to favour reciprocal shareholdings. Any stake in TSE above 20% is also subject to the approval of the Japanese government.