ICE to Acquire MarketAxess — Official IR
July 30, 2026 — Atlanta & New York.
Definitive agreement: ICE acquires MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX).
Terms:
- $167 per share cash
- 33% premium to MKTX close July 29, 2026
- Equity value ~$6.0 billion
- Enterprise value ~$5.7 billion
- ~10.6x MarketAxess LTM EBITDA pro forma for full run-rate expense synergies
- $100 million run-rate expense synergies within three years
- Expected accretive to adjusted ICE EPS in first full year after close
- Financed with newly issued debt
- ICE baseline share repurchases increase to 350M
- Beginning gross leverage 3.4x; target return to ≤3.0x within 18–24 months post-close
- Close targeted H1 2027 subject to MarketAxess stockholder approval, regulatory clearances, customary conditions
- Unanimously approved by both boards
Strategic rationale: combine institutional electronic fixed-income trading (MarketAxess ~2,100 clients, 90+ countries) with ICE retail/wealth bond franchise and ICE data/indices/analytics into integrated fixed-income marketplace.