Brian BollenEuronext describes itself as the leading pan-European exchange in the eurozone. It had nearly 1,300 listed issuers worth some €3.5 trillion in market capitalisation at end March 2017. It has a blue chip franchise consisting of 25 issuers in the EURO STOXX 50 benchmark.
In its current form it is very much a modern construct. It brings together the exchanges of Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris, giving it a shared history that dates back some 400 years (further details below).
Euronext’s markets are regulated within the meaning of the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). Launched in 2010, Euronext London is a regulated market aimed at attracting issuers to list in the UK regulatory environment.
Diverse and international
Euronext boasts a strong diverse domestic and international client base for its regulated and transparent equity and derivatives markets. Its product range includes equities, exchange traded funds, warrants & certificates, bonds, derivatives, commodities and indices.
Euronext also leverages its expertise in running markets by providing technology and managed services to third parties. Euronext operates regulated markets, Alternext and Marché Libre, a multilateral trading facility to help micro cap companies.
The MTF has a light regulatory regime and has market locations in Brussels and Paris. Alternext is an international market created by Euronext in May 2005 to offer small and mid-sized companies simplified access to the stock market.
Introducing Alternext
Regulated solely by Euronext, the Alternext market’s streamlined listing requirements and trading rules suit the needs of small and mid-sized firms while ensuring investor transparency. Euronext also offers EnterNext, to facilitate SME access to capital markets.
Euronext says it believes that its unique portfolio of market services position it ideally to play a significant role in the future development of European markets. Rising demand for new and diverse sources of capital, risk transfer solutions and other issues will play to its strengths.
The trading of corporate shares originated in Amsterdam in 1607 to finance the transport of goods from the Far East by the Dutch East India Company. Its shares were the world's first immediately deliverable shares. The first futures and options followed promptly.
Belgium birthplace of the bourse
Belgium was the birthplace of the concept of the bourse. In the 13th century merchants gathered in the house of the van den Bürse family in Bruges to do business. The first purpose-built stock exchange building was constructed in Antwerp in the 1500s.
Belgium's first national exchange was established in Brussels by the government of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1801. France's first exchange was the Lyon Bourse in the mid-1500s. The exchange in Paris that would become Euronext Paris was formed in 1999.
It was formed by the merger of several entities: the Paris Equities Market (SBF), the Nouveau Marché (SNM) and the French financial derivatives exchanges MATIF and MONEP.
Lisbon Stock Exchange
The Lisbon Stock Exchange was set up in 1769 on Lisbon's Praça do Comercio. Almost a century later, the Porto Stock Exchange was created. These two merged in 1999 to create the Bolsa de Valores de Lisboa e Porto. Euronext London was created in 2010.
Euronext, owner of the exchanges of Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and Lisbon and the leading pan-European marketplace, bought LIFFE in 2002. It was attracted by the technology it had developed, known as LIFFE CONNECT.
The new enlarged group became Euronext.liffe. Euronext merged with the New York Stock Exchange in 2007 and became NYSE Euronext. NYSE Euronext became a subsidiary of US-based Intercontinental Exchange in 2013.
LIFFE contracts migrate
All LIFFE contracts migrated to ICE Futures Europe (which is in effect the LIFFE business operating under a new name) in a phased approach that was launched in September 2014.
Euronext says
- Its plans for the future build on its role as a major player in financing the economies of its key countries
- It will seek to consolidate European liquidity for the benefit of issuers, investors and the real economy
- In trading and listing it is building on its single market access and multi-product trading technology
- The development of its existing derivatives business, used by investors to hedge risk, is a major priority
Euronext re-emerges
Euronext re-emerged as a standalone entity in June 2014 following its own initial public share offering, which separated it from ICE.
The Euronext official corporate brochure states that it has gone back to its roots as a pan-European securities and derivatives exchange. “Our roots are deep: for four centuries, the exchanges that now comprise Euronext have been at the heart of European capital markets.”
Founded: 2000; Euronext NV formed by merging the stock exchanges of Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam
Address: Beursplein 5, 1012 JW Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Telephone: +31 20 721 4488
Website: www.euronext.com
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman: Stephane Boujnah