NYSE Settles Members' Lawsuit Over Archipelago Takeover

NEW YORK -- The New York Stock Exchange settled a lawsuit that threatened to block the Big Board's purchase of electronic market Archipelago Holdings Inc., Bloomberg News reported Tuesday

Under terms of the settlement, the NYSE agreed to have an investment bank perform an independent evaluation of the merger. The dissident member group suing the exchange claimed the terms were the result of conflicted advice from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which advised both sides.

“The whole function of the lawsuit was to get information that was untainted to the members,'' said William T. Caldwell, one of the 10 members suing the exchange.

A settlement clears an obstacle for the world's largest stock exchange, which would become a for-profit public company by purchasing Chicago-based Archipelago.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 11/16/05