Euronext Chairman and Chief Executive Jean-Francois Theodore has met the governor of the Bank of Italy to drum up support for the exchange's joint offer with Italy's Borsa SpA for electronic bond market MTS, a French newspaper reported. The daily La Tribune gave no source for its report, released ahead of publication on Friday. Euronext was not immediately available for comment. Rome-based MTS, 46 percent owned by Italian banks and 54 percent owned by foreign banks, has been valued at about 250 million euros ($324 million).
The two European exchanges are bidding for MTS against US broker Cantor Fitzgerald, La Tribune said. The paper said Theodore visited Bank of Italy governor Antonio Fazio two weeks ago to help Euronext's joint bid receive the backing of the Bank of Italy and the Italian Finance Ministry.
French and Italian bank shareholders in MTS and Italian bank shareholders of Borsa SpA could try to tip the balance in favour of the Euronext/Borsa SpA joint bid at an MTS board meeting on Tuesday at which offers will be discussed, the daily said.
About one-third of MTS's trading is made up of Italian sovereign debt.
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