NYSE amenable to link with Italian stock market

NYSE Group Inc. is open to a tie-up with Borsa Italiana, the head of the New York Stock Exchange said Thursday, two days after the Italian stock market operator’s talks with Germany’s Deutsche Boerse failed.

Speaking at a securities conference, NYSE Chief Executive John Thain said that if the Italian market wished to explore a link, he would “certainly be open.”

The NYSE has agreed to acquire Euronext, a Paris-based stock and derivatives exchange. Frankfurt’s Deutsche Boerse is competing with the NYSE on a rival bid for Euronext.

Deutsche Boerse had been in talks with Borsa Italiana to create a European stock market. The aborted discussions “certainly undermine Deutsche Boerse’s argument that they are creating a European champion,” Thain said.