The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE.US) spent about $6 billion in cash and swallowed up the bond trading platform MarketAxess (MKTX.US) at a 33% premium

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on Thursday, the New York Stock Exchange parent company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE.US) announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire the electronic bond trading platform MarketAxess Holdings (MKTX.US) on an all-cash basis, with a total transaction value of about 6 billion US dollars.

Under the terms of the agreement, ICE will acquire all marketaxess shares at a price of 167 US dollars per share, which is a 33% premium over MarketAxess's closing price on Wednesday. After the news was announced, MarketAxess's stock price surged by about 30% in pre-market trading, partially recovering its nearly 31% decline so far this year; ICE stock also rose 1.7% before the market.

The acquisition will enable ICE to take control of one of the world's largest electronic trading markets for corporate bonds, and greatly accelerate CEO Jeff Sprecher (Jeff Sprecher)'s strategy to build a financial market “empire” covering all areas of exchanges, data, clearing, and OTC transactions. This also highlights the trend of increasing integration among financial market infrastructure companies under the wave of electronic fixed-income businesses.

“For more than 20 years, ICE has followed a clear and consistent strategy: targeting the largest and least efficient parts of the global financial system and using technology and network effects to improve transparency,” Spracher said in a statement. “The acquisition of MarketAxess is the next logical step in this process.” He further emphasized that after the merger, the two parties will strive to “build a fixed income ecosystem that investors have always expected — transparent, efficient, fully connected, and accessible to all.”

MarketAxess's platform connects approximately 2,100 institutional investors and brokers in more than 90 countries to provide electronic trading services including corporate bonds, emerging market debt, US Treasury bonds, and other fixed income securities. After the transaction is completed, ICE plans to integrate the capabilities of the two companies into a single platform to provide fixed income traders with a full chain of services covering pre-transaction price analysis, electronic execution, and post-transaction compliance tools. It is worth noting that the two sides reached a cooperation agreement connecting their respective liquidity networks in 2024, laying the foundation for this deep integration.

The acquisition further enriches ICE's trading floor map. ICE acquired the New York Stock Exchange in 2013, which is currently the largest stock exchange in the US. Additionally, ICE previously invested $1.64 billion into the crypto-based prediction platform PolyMarket. Facing fierce competition from Bloomberg's parent company Bloomberg Limited Partnership and others in the field of electronic transactions, data and information services, winning MarketAxess will strengthen ICE's moat.

The deal has been unanimously approved by both boards of directors, but is subject to regulatory review and approval from MarketAxess shareholders. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027.

Geopolitical conflicts and fluctuations drive second-quarter results

While disclosing news of major acquisitions, ICE also handed over an impressive report card for the second quarter. Financial reports show that investors' demand for hedging has risen sharply due to market fluctuations caused by events such as the US-Iran conflict, changes in interest rate expectations, and artificial intelligence (AI) expectations. Meanwhile, the long-standing conflict between Ukraine and the Middle East continues to drive oil market fluctuations.

Together, these factors contributed to a 24% year-on-year increase in the average daily trading volume of ICE interest rate derivatives, while the trading volume of agricultural products and metals contracts soared 36%. However, the energy sector was affected in a phased manner in the second quarter, and the sector's revenue fell 13% year over year.

Looking at overall results, the revenue of the exchange business sector, which is the largest source of revenue, increased 3% in the second quarter to reach US$1.46 billion; revenue from the fixed income and data service sector (which mainly provides bond asset pricing data through a subscription model) increased 8% year over year; and revenue from the mortgage technology business also recorded a 5% increase.

ICE achieved net profit attributable to shareholders of US$958 million in the three months ending June 30, equivalent to earnings of US$1.69 per share, which is significantly superior to US$851 million (US$1.48 per share) in the same period last year.

“In the context of changing global markets, customers continue to use ICE's regulated markets, trusted data, and mission-critical technology to transfer risk,” Spracher commented in the financial report.