Nasdaq comes to Europe

Easdaq was set up five years ago and there are now around 60 companies listed on the exchange, but to date it never posed a serious challenge to the bourses of Frankfurt and London.

Now that Easdaq has the muscle of Nasdaq behind it, however, it will become a much more attractive market for companies to list on.

The alliance will give European companies better access to money from North American markets, and Nasdaq hopes it will become the primary channel for Europeans investing in North American companies.

The European exchange becomes the third leg of Nasdaq's plan to build a global electronic stock market, with Nasdaq exchanges in the US and Japan.

The exchange will be renamed Nasdaq Europe, with the Nasdaq Stock Market taking control of 58 per cent of its shares for an undisclosed sum.

Nasdaq has reportedly been in alliance talks with both the London and Frankfurt exchanges. However, Nasdaq insists that it still intends to forge further partnerships.

The company said in a statement: "Nasdaq views this transaction as its first step in playing a major role in the further consolidation of trading in Europe. Its discussions with other markets and major market participants, however, will continue."

In May or June 2001, Nasdaq plans to introduce a new trading platform which will bring the technological capabilities of the Brussels bourse into line with the North American Nasdaq.