Market Mover by Robert Greifeld

Author:Robert Greifeld
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2019-10-07T16:00:00+00:00

The Finish Line

In this case, I decided it still made sense to complete what we had started. I went straight to Investor AB. As a public, shareholder-owned company, OMX had to respect the bid from Qatar. But I was also confident that they preferred the Nasdaq-Dubai acquisition offer. It took some tough negotiating, and a sweetened bid, but I eventually struck a deal with Börje Ekholm (representing Investor AB) that presented a formidable challenge to the Qatar group. We negotiated a structured agreement in which Investor AB agreed to vote for the Nasdaq bid, assuming the price difference between the two offers was within a certain range. That locked up their shares (unless Qatar made a super-premium bid), ensuring their support of our offer. As a result, the Qatar group eventually dropped their bid for OMX and sold their stake.

We passed the national security tests, and Dubai’s stake in Nasdaq was approved. Nasdaq would have the benefit of a global partner. Our new name would be Nasdaq-OMX. Our head count more than doubled overnight, and our global presence increased exponentially, as OMX had customer relationships with more than sixty exchanges around the world. Nasdaq now had a presence on six continents. Our wish for a global footprint had been fulfilled, in spades. I described the combined company as the largest global network of exchanges and exchange customers linked by technology.

On the downside, we had paid a handsome price for OMX and lost some of our value in the bidding war. We paid for it in both cash and stock. Buying OMX is one of those decisions that looked positive at the time, but over the course of the next few years, as global markets swooned, I was forced to cast a more critical eye on the merits of the merger. In business, however, the long term trumps all, and over time, the Nasdaq-OMX merger would prove fundamental to our success.

Nasdaq was becoming a significant software and services business serving international exchanges—a true growth market around the world. We also benefited tremendously from the infusion of capable talent from OMX into Nasdaq’s global workforce. None of it would have been possible without OMX. Now all we had to do was make the marriage work.

On a more personal note, the OMX merger was an initiation for me. It was my first deep foray into international dealmaking, and what a trial by fire it was. At the end of the entire saga, which went on for well over a year, I felt like I was a different person than when I started. Somewhere along the way, amid the international intrigue, European politics, Middle East power struggles, hedge fund brinksmanship, and hostile takeover bids, I had left the upstart kid from Queens far behind. And at no moment was this clearer to me than the day I found myself driving down an avenue lined with peacocks on my way to meet with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed at his palace, accompanied by our new Dubai partners.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.