NYSE makes bid for Euronext

The New York Stock Exchange ratcheted up its fight to become the world's first trans-Atlantic stock trading center yesterday, making a $10.2 billion cash-and-stock bid for European exchange operator Euronext NV -- an offer that Euronext called the best on the table.

A combination of NYSE Group Inc. and Euronext would create a $21 billion company called NYSE Euronext with trading in stock, corporate bond, futures, options, derivatives, and commodities on two continents. The move would extend the reach of each exchange and give the NYSE a dominance also sought by its rival, Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., although the average investor would probably feel little effect.

``NYSE Euronext will be the world's most liquid and truly global financial marketplace ," said NYSE Group chief executive John Thain, who would be chief executive of the combined company if approved.

Euronext's board was receptive to the bid, saying yesterday it is the most attractive offer on the table, implicitly better than a competing bid Deutsche Bourse AG made Friday. Euronext shareholders will meet today in Amsterdam to weigh the offers.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq, which saw the London Stock Exchange rebuff its $4.5 billion bid March 30, has been buying up LSE shares and now owns 25.1 percent of the London market. While it waits the six months required under British law to make another bid, the stake gives the Nasdaq some veto power over major changes at the LSE .

Both exchanges could ultimately trade American and European shares on both sides of the Atlantic, resulting in an extended trading day and increased revenues for the combined companies.