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Nasdaq, EEX bourse cancel Nordic power company sale offer

Exchanges Nasdaq and the European Energy Exchange (EEX), Europe's greatest power bourse, stated on Wednesday they have actually cancelled strategies under which the EEX would have bought Nasdaq's Nordic power trading and clearing company.

The deal would have increased EEX's dominance in the European power trading sector even further.

Although the offer, which was announced last year, did not fulfill the basic limit requirements for an EU anti-trust examination, some authorities in Nordic member states requested that the EU Commission take a closer take a look at the case on issues it could hamper market competitors.

A preliminary evaluation of that was set up to end Wednesday.

According to a commission document, concerns were around whether the deal would enable EEX to bundle its products to expand its market share and possibly spike power rates.

At present, EEX and Nasdaq Products, are the only providers of exchange-based Nordic Power trading and cleaning.

EEX said it will continue to pursue its own organization technique for the region and related markets independently, without offering any reason for the deal termination.

Nasdaq stated it will continue to run its Nordic power trading and clearing organization.

Last year, the EEX and Nasdaq said the offer presented no substantial danger to competition in the Nordics or EU, nor would it remove competitors in between the two companies.

Some market participants were concerned about the cancellation of the offer.

The Association of Nordic Energy Traders (NAET) is concerned that this (cancellation) will bring additional uncertainty going forward, its chairman Trond Strom informed .

While there is some drawback to competition from having one dominant exchange, trading locations are natural monopolies where liquidity follows liquidity, he added.

However, recent Nasdaq guideline changes opened up the possibility to shut down the cleaning house for organization factors and raised questions over the future of Nordic power trading on exchanges, Strom stated.

I am specific that the Nordic market will persist, however if Nasdaq wishes to leave the market everyone will gain from that exit being handled in an orderly fashion, he included.

A total of 449.1 terawatt hours (TWh) of monetary power contracts were traded and cleared on Nasdaq Products in 2023, of which 446.8 TWh were Nordic agreements and the rest German power futures, according to the exchange.

This compares with 12.6 TWh of Nordic contracts traded on the EEX.

Liquidity in the Nordic financial power market has been under pressure as trading has shifted to short-term spot contracts or bilateral deals due to growing price differences in the region.

(source: Reuters)