George Washington was also aided by ice as he famously crossed the Delaware River to rout the British in 1776. This time America’s Nasdaq OMX has patriot IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) by its side as it hopes to see off another nasty foreigner. Certainly Nasdaq and ICE’s attack shows Washington-style gusto. Its cash and share offer for NYSE Euronext is a fifth higher than that implied by the so-called merger with Deutsche Börse and a 27 per cent premium to the target’s undisturbed price.
1776年，喬治•華盛頓(George Washington)在著名的橫渡德拉瓦河、擊潰英軍的戰役中，得到了浮冰的佐助。而這一次，美國的那斯達克OMX(Nasdaq OMX)在試圖趕走又一個不懷好意的外來者時，也得到了洲際交易所(ICE，與「冰」的英文相同——譯者注)這個「愛國者」的幫助。那斯達克與洲際交易所的「奇襲」，顯然展示出了華盛頓的風範。它們向紐約證交所-泛歐交易所(NYSE Euronext)提出的現金加股票的出價，比紐交所與德意志交易所(Deutsche Börse)合併計劃中體現出的紐交所的價格高出20%，比紐交所未接到任何要約前的股價高出27%。