Nasdaq to sell debt worth $5 billion to fund Adenza deal

(Reuters) – Nasdaq said on Thursday it aims to sell debt worth $5.07 billion to fund its purchase of Thoma Bravo-owned software company Adenza.

The $10.5 billion deal, announced earlier this month to help transform the exchange operator into a financial technology company, comprises $5.75 billion in cash and 85.6 million shares of Nasdaq common stock.

Nasdaq is looking to sell senior notes worth $4.25 billion and 750 million euros ($821.33 million), according to a statement.

The New York-based company said it has received fully committed bridge financing for the cash part of the transaction, and plans to issue about $5.9 billion of debt between the signing and the closing of the deal.

Nasdaq and many of its peers have been morphing into financial technology firms, largely through deals, as regulatory and nationalist pushback effectively killed big cross-border exchange mergers, and as trading volumes fell after the 2008-2009 financial crisis, stunting transaction-based revenue.

The U.S. exchange operator’s acquisitions have included Nordic markets owner OMX for $3.7 billion in 2007, International Securities Exchange for $1.1 billion in 2016, content and analytics provider eVestement for $705 million in 2017 and anti-financial crime software firm Verafin for $2.75 billion in 2020.

($1 = 0.9132 euros)