KKR’s latest listing missive

Private equity giant KKR’s latest document on its lengthy route to becoming a publicly-traded company makes the intriguing suggestion that it could list on either the Nasdaq or the NYSE.  

The idea all along has been for KKR, after listing on Euronext through buying its Amsterdam-listed fund KPE, to potentially list on the NYSE, so switching to Nasdaq would be quite a suprise.

Press releases up to now have pinpointed the NYSE as KKR’s possible future home. However, today’s document is a filing to unitholders rather than a statement to the press, so it is more formal and looks at all possible eventualities (such as a long section on risk factors).

[extract] Following the consummation of the Combination Transaction, KPE and KKR will have the right to require that the other use its reasonable best efforts to cause interests in the Combined Business to be listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange or The NASDAQ Stock Market at a future date. If such listing occurs, KPE would make an in-kind distribution of such interests to KPE unitholders, subject to applicable laws, rules and regulations, KPE units would cease to trade on Euronext Amsterdam and KPE would subsequently be dissolved and delisted from Euronext Amsterdam.

from Summit Notebook:

Nasdaq president to finance companies: come hither

A fertile planting ground for tech, biotech and even some energy offerings, Nasdaq OMX has historically struggled to lure listings in some other areas, notably financial services.

Now, that could be about to change, Nasdaq OMX President Magnus Bocker said at the Reuters Exchanges and Trading Summit. As Nasdaq looks for ways to attract new listings and end a virtual drought in IPOs, it sees financial services firms as one of the most promising areas.

That Nasdaq would at least be hoping to narrow the gap in financial services listings with NYSE, the traditional ruler of the space, is not as out of left field as it might sound.

The exchange has already made some inroads and can point to some recent conquests like CME Group, which moved from a dual listing on Nasdaq and NYSE to a sole Nasdaq listing. Northern Trust, the fund administrator which has weathered the financial crisis with relative ease compared with some larger rivals, is another bright point.

Nasdaq powers Iraqi stock exchange’s electronic trading

Talk about trying to get a piece of an emerging market.

Nasdaq OMX said on Tuesday that its trading and clearing system was used in the launch last week of electronic trading on the Iraq Stock Exchange, or ISX, as it is known.

It is not the first time U.S. exchanges have partnered with counterparts in the Middle East. Nasdaq operates Nasdaq Dubai, and last year, the New York Stock Exchange bought a 25 percent stake in Doha Securities Market. But it may well be the first time an exchange struck a deal in a war torn country, another sign that Iraq may slowly be returning to a semblance of normalcy.

With 3,800 listed stocks, Nasdaq is well positioned to help out ISX, an embryonic exchange started in 2004 that lists only 91 stocks. About half of those are finance-related companies, such as Bank of Baghdad and Babylon Bank, while others include hotels and agricultural companies. Please click here to see the list.

U.S. still a draw for foreign IPOs

Stock exchanges in emerging markets have grown more sophisticated in recent years, giving Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange a run for their money in attracting new overseas IPO listings.

Yet last week, Chinese video games maker Changyou.com, made a spectacular debut on the Nasdaq, and on Monday, Israeli tech company N-trig, which makes pen and touch devices for notebook computers, said it was planning a Nasdaq listing in 2010.

But why would Changyou.com, for example, with virtually no sales to speak of in the U.S., list there, rather than on a Chinese exchange?

Changyou chairman Charles Zhang told Reuters last week: “The U.S. is still the most sophisticated market, especially for technology investors.” And the new rules recently announced to make China’s exchange attractive will take a few years to really draw IPOs, he said. What’s more, the liquidity in the U.S. stock markets is deeper than anywhere else.

NYSE vs Nasdaq new listings battle in 08: call it a draw

You win some, you lose some.

The IPO gods doled out more misery than joy in 2008 to both two major U.S. stock exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, with only 29 new companies to fight over in their ongoing battle for listings. That compared with 202 listings in 2007.

NYSE won 13 of those IPOs, including the largest IPO ever, the $17.9 billion issue by credit-card issuer Visa in March, and a $1.4 billion IPO by American Water Works. That fueled its share of IPO proceeds for the year to $24.7 billion, or 94 percent of the total for the year, according to Thomson Reuters data.