Cleary Gottlieb is representing Instinet Group Incorporated, the largest global electronic agency securities broker, on the antitrust aspects of its recently announced merger with NASDAQ, the largest U.S. electronic stock market. In the transaction, NASDAQ will acquire all outstanding shares of Instinet for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $1.88 billion in cash.
Upon completion of the merger, NASDAQ will own INET ECN, Instinet’s electronic marketplace. NASDAQ has also entered into a definitive agreement to sell Instinet’s institutional broker division to Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm focused exclusively on large-scale investment in technology and growth industries. The combination of NASDAQ and INET ECN will provide investors with a technologically superior trading platform positioned to compete more effectively in a post-Regulation NMS environment.
Cleary previously represented Instinet on the antitrust aspects of its $508 million acquisition of Island ECN Inc. in 2002.