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Euro bourses talk merger
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April 20, 2000: 11:31 a.m. ET
London Stock Exchange names new boss amid merger talks with Frankfurt bourse
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LONDON (CNNfn) - The London Stock Exchange confirmed Thursday it's considering a merger with Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse, the company that runs the Germans stock exchange, in a deal that would link the two biggest exchanges in Europe as stock markets across the region consolidate.
The LSE said the announcement was intended to dispel what it called recent "misleading press reports". It also named Don Cruickshank, chairman of Scottish Media Group and the former chief regulator of the U.K telecommunication industry, as the next chairman of the exchange.
"Discussions are taking place with Deutsche Boerse to see if a merger between the two exchanges can be the first major step" in the process of simplifying the trading of securities across Europe and globally, the LSE said in a statement.
The exchanges first started talks to form the core of a pan-European stock market two years ago, and expanded their plan to include six other national stock markets. The effort ran into trouble over issues of ownership and the choice of a uniform trading system.
Press reports earlier this week said talks were under way toward a deal that would hand up to two-thirds control of a combined exchange to Deutsche Boerse.
The drive toward consolidation among Europe's stock markets has accelerated in part due to last year's launch of the euro as a common currency used by 11 European Union nations. Last month, the stock exchanges of Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam came together to form a three-way regional exchange. The United Kingdom is not in the euro zone and its trading is carried out in British pounds.
Last month the London stock exchange became a for-profit company, shucking its past as a body owned by its members, the brokers that trade on the exchange. Like the U.S. Nasdaq stock market, both the London and Frankfurt exchanges conduct transactions electronically, contrasting with the New York Stock Exchange where floor traders continue to execute stock purchases and sales. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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