Germany's Deutsche Börse is considering offering Euronext wide-ranging concessions on technology in a bid to woo the pan-European exchange away from its planned merger with the New York Stock Exchange, according to a Financial Times report.
According to the FT, which cites people close to the Börse, Reto Francioni, chief executive and chairman of the German exchange, visited Paris and found that IT was the main concern of shareholders and users of Euronext.
Deutsche Börse currently operates its IT in-house from Frankfurt, but Euronext has set up a 50-50 joint venture with Atos Origin for its operations and wants any bidders to do the same. Nyse has already accepted this condition and, according to the report, the Börse could now be preapred to do the same.
The move by Deutsche Börse is an attempt to convince Euronext shareholders to support its own merger bid.
Euronext accepted a $10bn merger offer from Nyse earlier this month, ousting a rival bid by Deutsche Börse, although the deal still needs shareholder approval.
But the German exchange has vowed to push on and work towards a combination with Euronext and is thought to have contacted Germany's financial regulator, Bafin, over whether it can raise its offer.
Earlier this week Jean-Claude Trichet, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), said he favours a "euro area option" and called for Euronext to merge with Deutsche Börse. French president Jacques Chirac has also come out in favour of a Euronext-Deutsche Börse combination.