NYSE Euronext disclosed Friday it reached a settlement with shareholders over their challenge of its proposed merger with Deutsche Boerse, after the Big Board operator moved to pay out a $900 million special dividend upon completion of the deal.
In a regulatory filing, NYSE Euronext said it settled investor complaints filed in Delaware and New York courts that had challenged the proposed combination, alleging that the merger deal with Deutsche Boerse undervalued their company.
NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse, both with market operations in the US and Europe, agreed in February to create the world’s biggest exchange operator though a $25 billion merger.
The legal challenges sought to block a July 7 vote of NYSE Euronext shareholders on the deal, one week before Deutsche Boerse investors are required to have tendered their own shares in favor of creating the as-yet unnamed exchange group.
NYSE Euronext in the filing said that the investors challenging the merger agreed to drop their objections following the exchange groups’ announcement June 7 that the newly created company aimed to pay a special dividend of €2 ($2.83) a share upon completion of the merger.