OMX

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This article is about the Nordic stock exchange group. OMX is also the stock symbol for Office Max.
OMX AB
Type Subsidiary
Founded 2003
Headquarters Stockholm, Sweden
Key people Hans-Ole Jochumsen (CEO), Magnus Böcker (Chairman of the board)
Industry Financial services
Products Stock exchanges
Revenue SEK 4.305 billion (2007)[1]
Employees 1,638 (2007)[1]
Parent NASDAQ OMX Group
Website www.omxnordicexchange.com
The Stockholm Stock Exchange.
The Stockholm Stock Exchange.
The Helsinki Stock Exchange building.
The Helsinki Stock Exchange building.

OMX AB (Aktiebolaget Optionsmäklarna/Helsinki Stock Exchange) is a Swedish-Finnish financial services company, formed in 2003 through a merger between OM AB and HEX plc. It has two divisions, OMX Exchanges, which operates eight stock exchanges in the Nordic and Baltic countries, and OMX Technology, which develops and markets systems for financial transactions used by OMX Exchanges, as well as by other stock exchanges. The company is a world leader in financial instruments trading systems.

OMX has been part of the NASDAQ OMX Group since February 2008.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

OM AB (Optionsmäklarna) was a futures exchange founded by Olof Stenhammar in the 1980s to introduce trading in standardized option contracts in Sweden. OM acquired the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1998[2] and unsuccessfully attempted acquisition of the London Stock Exchange in 2001.[3] During the dot-com bubble in the early 21st century OM, together with investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, launched a virtual European stock exchange called Jiway. The project was not successful[4] and was cancelled on the 14th October 2002.[5]

[edit] Acquisition of other exchanges

On 3 September 2003 the Helsinki Stock Exchange (HEX) merged with OM, and the joint company became OM HEX.[6] On August 31, 2004, the brand name of the company was changed to OMX.[7] OMX then acquired the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in January 2005[2] for €164 million.[8] On September 19, 2006 the Iceland Stock Exchange owner Eignarhaldsfelagid Verdbrefathing (EV) announced it would be acquired by OMX in a deal valuing the company at 250 million SEK.[9] The transaction was completed by the end of the year.[2] The company also took a 10% stake in Oslo Bors Holding ASA, the owner of the Oslo Stock Exchange in October 2006.

[edit] Expansion of offerings

In December 2005 OMX started First North, an alternative exchange for smaller companies, in Denmark. The First North exchange expanded to Stockholm in June 2006, Iceland in January 2007 and Helsinki in April 2007.[10] The Markets Technology division of Computershare was acquired in 2006. The acquisition greatly expanded its product offerings and made its client list the largest of all trading system technology providers.

The group launched a virtual Nordic Stock Exchange on October 2, 2006, after merging the individual lists of shares traded at its three wholly-owned Scandinavian exchanges into a combined Nordic List.[11] Companies listed on the Iceland Stock Exchange have also since been merged into the list. OMX also launched a pan-regional benchmark index, the OMX Nordic 40, on the same date, however the individual exchanges have also retained their own national benchmark indices.

[edit] NASDAQ takeover

On May 25, 2007, NASDAQ agreed to buy OMX for US$3.7 billion.[12] In August 2007, however, Borse Dubai offered US$4 billion, prompting speculation of a bidding war.[13] On September 20 2007, Borse Dubai agreed to stop competing to buy OMX in return for a 20% stake and 5 percent of votes in NASDAQ as well as NASDAQ's then 28% stake in the London Stock Exchange.[14] In a complex transaction, Borse Dubai acquired 97.2% of OMX's outstanding shares before selling them onto NASDAQ.[15] The newly merged company was renamed the NASDAQ OMX Group upon completion of the deal on February 27, 2008.

[edit] OMX exchanges

[edit] Divisions

The company's stock market activities are categorized into three divisions:

  • Nordic Market (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Iceland)
  • Baltic Market (Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius)
  • First North (alternative exchange)

[edit] Technology

In North America OMX supports its most high profile customers such as FINRA, ICAP, ISE, and BIDS Trading which are powered by OMX trading systems such as CLICK and SAXESS.

OMX's technology customers include:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b OMX Financial Year-End Report 2007. OMX. Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  2. ^ a b c OMX milestones. NASDAQ OMX Group. Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  3. ^ Treanor, Jill. "Stock Exchange teams up with OM", The Guardian, guardian.co.uk, 2002-12-10. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  4. ^ "OM losses shock analysts", BBC News, 2001-04-18. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  5. ^ "City briefing: Jiway eases bourse clutter", The Guardian, guardian.co.uk, 2002-10-15. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  6. ^ Leighton-Jones, Phillipa. "OMHex appoints new chief executive as trading begins", Financial News, 2003-09-04. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  7. ^ "OMHEX changes name to OMX", Finextra, 2004-08-31. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  8. ^ Akerhielm, Maria. "OMX to Buy Copenhagen Exchange", Dow Jones Newswires, The Wall Street Journal, 2004-11-16. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  9. ^ "OMX to buy Iceland bourse owner in all share deal", AFX News, Forbes, 2006-09-19. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  10. ^ "OMX: First North Services Expand to Finland", Business Wire, 2007-04-03. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  11. ^ OMX (2006-10-02). "The OMX Nordic Exchange strengthens its position as a leading European marketplace". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  12. ^ "Nasdaq bids $3.7bn for Nordic OMX", BBC News, 2007-05-25. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  13. ^ "Dubai in $4bn bid for Nordic OMX", BBC News, 2007-08-17. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  14. ^ Magnusson, Niklas; McSheehy, Will. "Dubai to Buy Stakes in Nasdaq, LSE; Strikes OMX Deal", Bloomberg, 2007-09-20. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  15. ^ "Borse Dubai completes planned sale of OMX to Nasdaq", Associated Press, International Herald Tribune, 2007-09-27. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  16. ^ "OMX says buys Armenian stock exchange", Reuters, 2007-11-21. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 

[edit] External links

  • OMX - Official site