Pan-European exchange operator Euronext is in talks to buy the MTS bond trading platform, according to a report in L'Agefi newspaper.
Euronext, which is currently locked in a two-way bid battle with Deutsche Bourse for the hand of the London Stock Exchange, has been courting MTS for the past year, says the financial daily. The talks have yet to reach any conclusion, the paper reports.
MTS Group, excluding its MTS Italie and EuroMTS operations, reported transactions of bonds worth EUR17 billion in the 11 months to November, up nine per cent from a year earlier, and expects full-year 2004 pre-tax profit of EUR5.3 mln on revenues of EUR60.4 million.
User banks are the main shareholders of the MTS businessses, L'Agefi says, noting that Euronext owns a 30% stake in MTS France.