NETHERLANDS – Giant Dutch civil service pension fund ABP fears the planned merger between Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange could lead to ‘Americanisation’ of European corporate governance.

The exchanges said last week that they planned to combine in a “merger of equals”.

Now the €191bn scheme is worried that the company rules of the United States, as put down in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, will be introduced by stealth in Europe, as a result of the tying-up together of both exchanges, the Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad quoted an ABP spokesman as saying.

ABP is neither convinced of the superiority of a merger with the NYSE. “We will take our time for an analysis of the offer, but there are certainly other strategic options for Euronext as well, such as the obvious merger with the Deutsche Borse,” the spokesman added.

According to Euronext’s financial governor Joost van der Does de Willebois, ABP doesn’t need to be worried. “Explicit arrangements are being made between the various supervisors. The separate supervisory regimes are one of the attractive aspects of this transaction,” he stressed.

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