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Dubai: The Swedish financial supervisory authority Fin-ansinspektionen (FI) yesterday declared US stock exchange Nasdaq qualified to take over Nordic operator OMX.
Borse Dubai and Nasdaq have reached an agreement under which OMX would be acquired by Dubai and then sold to the US firm.
"Nasdaq meets the requirements that are placed on an owner of a qualifying holding in OMX," FI said in a statement on its website.
"FI may approve an owner if it can be assumed that the owner is suitable to exercise a significant influence over the management of the firm and will not act against the sound development of the firm's operations," it said.
Nasdaq and Borse Dubai have raised their bid for OMX, valuing the company at $4.9 billion. They said they had control of 47.6 per cent of shares in Stockholm-based firm.
"We are talking to other shareholders as well. How soon we will get over 50 per cent is difficult to say, but hopefully fairly soon," Borse Dubai chief executive Per Larsson was quoted by Reuters as saying.
"Our objective is 100 per cent of the company and we feel we have very strong support for that."
Both Nasdaq and Dubai were rivals for taking control of OMX before they came up with a complex arrangement a few days back that would give Borse Dubai a stake in Nasdaq, while making the US firm owner of OMX.
Borse Dubai and Nasdaq increased the price they are offering for OMX to 265 kronor per share from 230 kronor in their attempts to thwart other rival bids. The companies feared a counterbid for OMX from Qatar.
The Qatar Investment Authority last week urged OMX shareholders to take no action on the Dubai-Nasdaq bid and has built up a stake of 9.98 per cent in the company.
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