Euronext says it is open to a “big bang” combination with Deutsche Börse

Euronext CEO Stéphane Boujnah says combining with Deutsche Börse could create a European exchange of “planetary scale.” No negotiations are currently under way, and Deutsche Börse confirms that. But the fact that the idea is being floated publicly is significant because previous attempts at European exchange consolidation were repeatedly blocked by governments or antitrust regulators.

Euronext operates exchanges across eight countries and is worth about €16bn; Deutsche Börse is worth roughly €50bn and owns Frankfurt’s exchange and Eurex. A combination would pool liquidity and market infrastructure just as France and Germany are discussing stronger EU-level capital-market supervision.

Europe keeps diagnosing fragmented capital markets as a reason its companies rely more heavily on banks and US investors; merging its exchange infrastructure would be one of the most concrete attempts yet to address that fragmentation.