Intercontinental Exchange to Acquire MarketAxess in $6 Billion Deal | LeapRate
Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) announced a definitive agreement on Wednesday to acquire MarketAxess Holdings (Nasdaq: MKTX) in a deal valued at approximately $6.0 billion in equity, aiming to build what the companies call the most complete fixed income marketplace in the industry.
Under the terms, ICE will pay $167 per share in cash for MarketAxess, a 33% premium to Tuesday’s closing price. The total enterprise value is roughly $5.7 billion, equating to about 10.6 times MarketAxess’s last twelve months EBITDA when adjusted for expected synergies. The transaction was unanimously approved by both boards and is expected to close in the first half of 2027, pending shareholder and regulatory approval.
MarketAxess brings its electronic trading network, connecting roughly 2,100 institutional investors and broker-dealers across more than 90 countries, to ICE’s existing retail bond franchise, data infrastructure, and global index business. Together, the companies say clients will gain access to a unified platform spanning pre-trade analytics, execution, and post-trade services.
ICE Chair and CEO Jeff Sprecher called the deal a “natural next step” in the company’s long-running strategy of applying technology to inefficient corners of finance. CFO Warren Gardiner said the acquisition will be financed entirely through newly issued debt while preserving shareholder returns, with ICE actually raising its quarterly share repurchase target to $400 million.
The companies expect $100 million in annual run-rate synergies within three years, with the deal proving accretive to adjusted earnings per share in its first full year.
