Borsa Italiana is in advanced partnership talks with the London Stock Exchange in a deal that would give London greater weight but leave some autonomy to Milan, a source close to the situation said on Wednesday.
"It's heading towards a partnership in which Borsa has a minority position but maintains its autonomy," the source said. Borsa's chief executive, Massimo Capuano, will outline the agreement to board members at a meeting on Thursday starting at 1300 GMT, the source said.
NYSE Euronext, which had held talks with Borsa last year, made a counter bid but was turned down by Borsa, the source said. Borsa declined to comment. A NYSE Euronext spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment, and no one was immediately available for comment at the London Stock Exchange.
With pressure mounting on stock exchanges globally to merge to reduce costs and speed up execution of transactions, Borsa Italiana talked to Euronext and Deutsche Boerse last year but nothing came of the talks. Pan-European stock exchange operator Euronext, which runs the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon bourses, as well as Liffe, London's derivatives exchange, merged with the New York Stock Exchange despite a revised rival merger offer from Deutsche Boerse.