The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. is buying Brut LLC, the owner and operator of the Brut ECN from SunGard Data Systems Inc., for US$190 million in cash.

The board of directors of each company has approved the transaction, which is expected to close during the third quarter of 2004, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval. It is anticipated the transaction will be accretive to Nasdaq shareholders within 12 months from closing.

The Brut acquisition is intended to enhance Nasdaq’s systems by providing it with the ability to route orders via an internal broker-dealer to multiple liquidity pools in keeping with changes proposed by Reg NMS, and to improve FIX connectivity. Also, Nasdaq and SunGard will enter into hosting and multi-year processing agreements for SunGard to provide a real-time order-to-settlement securities processing system for Nasdaq trades.

Bob Greifeld, president and chief executive officer of Nasdaq, stated, “In addition to generating incremental revenue, the transaction complements our strategy to provide a lower-cost and more efficient trading environment, which ultimately better serves our customers.”

“This is just one more step in Nasdaq’s multi-pronged strategy to increase our share of trading, raise the number of Nasdaq-listed companies, reinforce Nasdaq’s status as the premier U.S. equity market and serve investors better,” Greifeld said.