The New York Stock Exchange (Nyse) is in talks to buy out the American Stock Exchange's (Amex) one-third interest in the Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC) which is co-owned by the two exchanges.
SIAC runs the computer systems and communications networks that power the two exchanges and disseminates market data.
The possible buy-out by Nyse was referred to in a regulatory filing on its planned merger with pan-European exchange Euronext.
Nyse, which holds a two-thirds interest in SIAC, says it has received a notice stating that Amex intends to "materially decrease its use of SIAC's services".
Nyse says it is currently holding negotiations about the possible purchase of the 33% of shares in SIAC held by Amex although no definitive agreements have yet been reached.
In a research note issued Friday, Patrick Pinschmidt, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, noted: "The key issue here is less about price ... but more about free-hand to expedite transition to [Euronext's] much more efficient technology outsourcing model."