The group of New York Stock Exchange seat holders that had sued to block the Big Board's planned acquisition of electronic exchange Archipelago Holdings Inc. won approval to send its own independent analysis of the deal to all seat holders, according to Carla Main, a spokeswoman for the group.
In November, the group settled its lawsuit when exchange officials agreed to launch an independent review of the terms of the deal, which was announced in April. The exchange hired Citigroup to review the deal. Citigroup, after analyzing terms of the acquisition, called it fair to Big Board seat holders.
Dissident seat holders found the Citigroup review "sorely lacking," according to Ms. Main. The Citigroup analysis relied too heavily on forecasts provided by NYSE and Archipelago management, did not take into account possible new business lines the new exchange may undertake and failed to consider other provisions of the deal, the seat holders argued.
New York Supreme Court Judge Charles E. Ramos granted the seat holders permission to have their own analysis of the deal — done by Willamette Management Associates — sent to all 1,366 NYSE seat holders to consider before they cast their votes. The vote is scheduled for Dec. 6.
NYSE officials were not available for immediate comment.