Monday, Aug 20, 2007

(This updates item published at 1144 GMT with background and analyst comment.) 


 
   By Joel Sherwood 
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

STOCKHOLM (Dow Jones)--Two main OMX AB (OMX.SK)shareholders said Monday they continue to support U.S. exchange Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.'s (NDAQ) offer for the Swedish exchange operator but are evaluating Borse Dubai's Friday bid.

"We're analyzing the new offer," said Fredrik Lindgren of Investor AB, OMX's largest shareholder with a 10.7% stake. He added, "It's not self-evident" that the Borse Dubai bid is better than the Nasdaq bid.

Borse Dubai said Friday it's launching an all cash, 230 Swedish kronor ($33.24) a share bid for OMX which it says values the company at $4.01 billion. Nasdaq launched a takeover bid for OMX on May 25, that was valued at $3.7 billion.

Investor and Nordea Bank AB (NDA.SK), - which is third on the OMX shareholder list behind the Swedish government with 5.5% - have agreed to the Nasdaq deal.

"Nordea still supports the Nasdaq bid. That hasn't changed," said Boo Ehlin, a Nordea spokesman.

OMX shareholders who backed the Nasdaq bid agreed not consider rival bids rival bids below SEK220 per share.

"But since we are allowed to consider other offers more than SEK220 a share we are now free to analyze the Borse Dubai bid," said Ehlin.

The shareholder comments follows Nasdaq's announcement Monday that it may sell its 31% stake in U.K. operator London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.LN), a move regarded as a gear-up for a raised OMX offer.

"They are looking for finance for a higher bid," said Fredrik Gutenbrant of Cheuvreux.

The Swedish government, which is looking to sell its 6.6% stake in OMX but hadn't come to a decision on the Nasdaq deal, said Friday it's evaluating the Borse Dubai offer.

Gutenbrant added that despite Nasdaq's plan to raise money, politics is likely the most important factor to the deal.

He noted that Borse Dubai is largely state-owned, and that the reason the center-right Swedish government is selling OMX is because it doesn't support governments running companies.

Blocking the Dubai offer "would show that they are really committed to not having state-ownership," said Gutenbrant. "That would be easy politic points for the government."

The Swedish government wasn't immediately available for comment.

OMX shares traded 2.6% higher at SEK238 Monday at 1210 GMT, outperforming a Stock market up 1.2%.

Company web site: www.omxgroup.com

-By Joel Sherwood, Dow Jones Newswires, +46 85 45 13 092, joel.sherwood@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

20-08-07 1223GMT