Deutsche Börse

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Deutsche Börse
Headquarters	Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany
Key People	Reto Francioni, CEO
Employees	3,300
Products	diverse range of trade-matching, clearing, and support services for equities, derivatives, and interest rate products
Web site	http://deutsche-boerse.com

Note on spelling: the German ö is equivalent to the English oe; both Börse and Boerse are correct.

Deutsche Boerse Group (German: Gruppe Deutsche Börse) is a holding company whose subsidiaries operate the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (German: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, FWB) and Eurex Derivatives Exchange, as well as the Clearstream post-execution clearing and settlement house and other exchange service providers. Deutsche Boerse AG is the group's marketplace organizer for the trading of shares and other securities.

Deutsche Börse's product and services portfolio includes securities and derivatives trading, transaction settlement, the provision of market information, and the development and operation of electronic trading systems.^[1]

The company serves customers in Europe, America and Asia and has locations in Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Spain, Czech Republic and the USA, as well as representative offices in Chicago, Dubai, Hong Kong, Lisbon, London, Moscow, New York, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo.

Contents 1 History 2 Products and Services 3 Key People 4 References

History

Deutsche Boerse was founded in 1993, as part of an ongoing effort to consolidate Germany's fragmented securities industry. Ten percent of the shares were distributed among the seven regional German stock exchanges outside of Frankfurt, but Frankfurt-based banks retained the bulk of the shares.

The exchange went public in February 2001, with a market capitalization of €4. Its market cap has risen steadily and stands at €24 billion in early 2008, placing it near the middle of the DAX stock index. The vast majority of its shareholders are now outside Germany.

Just before the IPO, management of Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange agreed in principle to merge, but failed to convince their shareholders – primarily in London – to sign off on the plan.

The exchange focused on organic growth until 2004, when it attempted mergers with both the SWX Swiss Exchange and, once again, with the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

The latter led to the departure of the exchange's well-known Chief Executive Werner Seifert, and Chairman Rolf E. Breuer, after a previously unknown hedge fund called The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI) led a shareholder revolt in early 2005. Seifert submitted his resignation, effective immediately, on May 9, 2005, and Breuer left a few months later. Seifert is credited with transforming the Frankfurt Exchange from a provincial market to a major player on the European stage.^[2]

In 2006 Reto Francioni followed Breuer as chairman, and one of his first acts was to suggest a “Merger of Equals” with pan-European exchange Euronext, whereupon a bidding war with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ensued. Deutsche Börse eventually lost out to the NYSE, which acquired Euronext in 2006. Deutsche Borse officials said at the time that the companies had too little in common to integrate and that the stronger rise in Euronext’s share price compared to DB's had made the acquisition too expensive.^[3]

Products and Services

Deutsche Boerse has five operating segments:

• Xetra organizes the cash market.
• Eurex organizes the derivatives market.
• Clearstream is responsible for post-trade processes in the cash and securities markets.
• Market Data & Analytics distributes content related to Deutsche Boerse products.
• Information Technology builds and operates trading platforms.

Key People

Reto Francioni, CEO

References

1. ↑ About Us. Deutsche Boerse Group. Retrieved on August 12, 2008.
2. ↑ Deutsche Borse Company Profile. Referenceforbusiness.com. Retrieved on August 12, 2008.
3. ↑ "Deutsche Borse Ends its Quest for Euronext". The New York Times. Retrieved on August 12, 2008.