1.
Euronext
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Euronext NV is a European stock exchange seated in Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Lisbon and Paris. In addition to cash and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides listing market data, market solutions, custody and its total product offering includes equities, exchange-traded funds, warrants and certificates, bonds, derivatives, commodities and indices. As of 2017, Euronext was the largest in continental Europe with 1,300 issuers representing a €3 trillion market capitalization, Euronext merged with NYSE Group, Inc. on April 4,2007 to form NYSE Euronext. On November 13,2013 Intercontinental Exchange, completed acquisition of NYSE Euronext, in June 2014 Euronext completed an initial public offering making it a standalone company again. In December 2001, Euronext acquired the shares of the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, in 2002 the group merged with the Portuguese stock exchange Bolsa de Valores de Lisboa e Porto, renamed Euronext Lisbon. In 2001, Euronext became a company itself after completing its Initial Public Offering. Despite this, NYSE Group and Euronext penned an agreement, subject to shareholder vote. The initial regulatory response by SEC chief Christopher Cox was positive, the new firm, tentatively dubbed NYSE Euronext, would be headquartered in New York City, with European operations and its trading platform run out of Paris. In addition, the two hoped to add Borsa Italiana into the grouping. Deutsche Börse dropped out of the bidding for Euronext on 15 November 2006, a run-up of NYSE Groups stock price in late 2006 made the offering far more attractive to Euronexts shareholders. On 19 December 2006, Euronext shareholders approved the transaction with 98. 2% of the vote, only 1. 8% voted in favour of the Deutsche Börse offer. Jean-François Théodore, the Chief Executive Officer of Euronext, stated that expected the transaction to close within three or four months. Some of the agencies with jurisdiction over the merger had already given approval. NYSE Group shareholders gave their approval on 20 December 2006, the merger was completed on 4 April 2007, forming NYSE Euronext. In 2008 and 2009 Deutsche Börse made two attempts to merge with NYSE Euronext. Both attempts did not enter into advanced steps of merger, in 2011, Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext confirmed that they were in advanced merger talks. Such a merger would create the largest exchange in history, the deal was approved by shareholders of NYSE Euronext on July 7,2011, and Deutsche Börse on July 15,2011 and won the antitrust approved by the US regulators on December 22,2011. Deutsche Börse unsuccessfully appealed this decision, in 2012, Euronext announced the creation of Euronext London to offer listing facilities in the UK
2.
Stock exchange
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A stock exchange or bourse is an exchange where stock brokers and traders can buy and/or sell stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, Securities traded on a stock exchange include stock issued by listed companies, unit trusts, derivatives, pooled investment products and bonds. Stock exchanges often function as continuous auction markets, with buyers and sellers consummating transactions at a central location, to be able to trade a security on a certain stock exchange, it must be listed there. Trade on an exchange is restricted to brokers who are members of the exchange, the initial public offering of stocks and bonds to investors is by definition done in the primary market and subsequent trading is done in the secondary market. A stock exchange is often the most important component of a stock market, supply and demand in stock markets are driven by various factors that, as in all free markets, affect the price of stocks. There is usually no obligation for stock to be issued via the exchange itself. Such trading may be off exchange or over-the-counter and this is the usual way that derivatives and bonds are traded. Increasingly, stock exchanges are part of a securities market. The idea of debt dates back to the ancient world, as evidenced for example by ancient Mesopotamian clay tablets recording interest-bearing loans, there is little consensus among scholars as to when corporate stock was first traded. Some see the key event as the Dutch East India Companys founding in 1602, economist Ulrike Malmendier of the University of California at Berkeley argues that a share market existed as far back as ancient Rome. One such service was the feeding of geese on the Capitoline Hill as a reward to the birds after their honking warned of a Gallic invasion in 390 B. C. Participants in such organizations had partes or shares, a concept mentioned various times by the statesman, in one speech, Cicero mentions shares that had a very high price at the time. Such evidence, in Malmendiers view, suggests the instruments were tradable, the societas declined into obscurity in the time of the emperors, as most of their services were taken over by direct agents of the state. Tradable bonds as a used type of security were a more recent innovation, spearheaded by the Italian city-states of the late medieval. While the Italian city-states produced the first transferable government bonds, they did not develop the other ingredient necessary to produce a fully fledged capital market, the Dutch East India Company became the first company to offer shares of stock. Control of the company was held tightly by its directors, with shareholders not having much influence on management or even access to the companys accounting statements. However, shareholders were rewarded well for their investment, the company paid an average dividend of over 16 percent per year from 1602 to 1650. Financial innovation in Amsterdam took many forms, by the 1620s, the company was expanding its securities issuance with the first use of corporate bonds
3.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
4.
ING Group
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The ING Group is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, ING is an abbreviation for Internationale Nederlanden Groep. The orange lion on INGs logo alludes to the Groups Dutch origins under the House of Orange-Nassau, ING is the Dutch member of the Inter-Alpha Group of Banks, a cooperative consortium of 11 prominent European banks. ING Bank was included in a list of global systemically important banks in 2012, as of 2013, ING served over 48 million individual and institutional clients in more than 40 countries, with a worldwide workforce exceeding 75,000. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, ING Group traces its roots to two major insurance companies in the Netherlands and the banking services of the Dutch government. It later changed its name to De Nederlanden van 1845, two decades later in 1863 the life insurance company Nationale Levensverzekerings Bank was founded in Rotterdam. These two insurance companies would make multiple acquisitions before merging to form the combined company the Nationale-Nederlanden in 1963. The combined insurance company would expand significantly during the 1970s and 1980s, in 1881, the Dutch government created the Rijkspostspaarbank, a postal savings system to encourage workers to start saving. Four decades later they added the Postcheque and Girodienst services allowing working families to make payments via post offices, separately in 1927, the Dutch government initiated a re-organisation of Dutch banks which resulted in the creation of the Nederlandsche Middenstands Bank. NMBs focus was retail banking in the Netherlands and abroad, in 1986, post office banking services were privatised as Postbank N. V. and three years later it would merge with NMB bank to form NMB Postbank Groep. It also acquired Frankfurt based BHF-Bank in 1999, although disposed of this later and it increased its Latin American and Asia Pacifics insurance businesses with the acquisition of ReliaStar and Aetnas Financial Services unit. It also acquired the Polish Bank Śląski and Mexican insurance company Seguros Comercial América, however, it was the 1995 purchase of Barings Bank after its dramatic failure that saw ING Groups investment banking business boosted significantly. The first of these was set up in Canada in 1997, the no frills, high rate savings accounts that could only be accessed online were a successful venture and spawned a number of similar services from rival banks. In 2008, as part of the financial crisis ING Group, together with all other major banks in the Netherlands. This support increased INGs capital ratio above 8%, however as a condition of Dutch state aid and this included the sale of the ING Direct US operations to Capital One and the ING Direct UK operations to Barclays bank in 2012. The spun-off insurance businesses in North America were renamed Voya Financial in 2014, in November 2003, ING Groep N. V. appointed Michel Tilmant, Vice-Chairman of the executive board, as its new chairman and successor to Ewald Kist. ING has offices in, Due to the separation of ING Group into ING Bank and ING Insurance, ING House was the head office of NN Group and located in the business district of Zuidas in Amsterdam, Netherlands from 2012 to 2014. It was designed by Roberto Meyer and Jeroen van Schooten and was opened on 16 September 2002 by then Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
5.
Agfa-Gevaert
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Agfa-Gevaert N. V. is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products and systems, as well as IT solutions. Agfa Graphics offers integrated prepress and industrial inkjet systems to the printing, Agfa HealthCare supplies hospitals and other care organisations with imaging products and systems, as well as information systems. Agfa Specialty Products supplies products to industrial markets. It is part of the Agfa Materials organization, in addition to the Agfa Specialty Products activities, Agfa Materials also supplies film and related products to Agfa Graphics and Agfa HealthCare. Agfa film and cameras were once prominent consumer products, however, in 2004, the consumer imaging division was sold to a company founded via management buyout. AgfaPhoto GmbH, as the new company was called, filed for bankruptcy after just one year, the brands are now licensed to other companies by AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH, a holding firm. Following this sale, Agfa-Gevaerts commerce today is 100% business-to-business, headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium, Agfa has sales organisations in 40 countries. In countries where Agfa does not have its own sales organisation, at the end of 2011, the company had 11,728 employees worldwide. Agfa has manufacturing plants around the world, the largest production and research centres are based in Belgium, the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and China. Net sales for 2011 totalled 3,023 million euros, Agfa is organised into three business groups as follows, Digital and analogue prepress systems, software, and consumables. Consumables, graphic film, analogue and digital printing plates, anapurna and Jeti printer families, typically used to produce posters, banners and displays. M-Press family high-end flatbed presses, designed to replace traditional equipment for all possible screen printing jobs, developer of medical imaging information systems. Agfa Healthcares main offices are in Mortsel, Ghent, Waterloo, Vienna, PACS for cardiology IT and CardioVascular Information Systems. Agfa Specialty Products supplies products to a variety of industries, traditional film products Sound recording film and print film for the movie industry. Films, chemicals, photo paper and software for aerial photography, microfilm Photo-tooling films for the production of Printed Circuit Boards. Nondestructive testing film (as the exclusive manufacturer of General Electrics NDT X-ray films, Materials and consumables for the production of ID-documents. Conductive polymer materials for the production of transparent electrodes used in electronic devices. Membranes for the electrolysis of water,1867 The company Aktiengesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation was founded in Rummelsburg as a manufacturer of dyes and stains
6.
Umicore
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Umicore N. V. formerly Union Minière, is a multinational materials technology company headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The company has been a component of Belgiums benchmark BEL20 stock market index since its 1991 inception, to symbolise this trend of moving away from mining and the production of commodities and base metals, the group Union Minière changed its name to Umicore in 2001. Initially the UMHK concentrated on mining the states extensive copper deposits, before diversifying into cobalt, tin, uranium, the company also constructed casting and smelting facilities, eventually growing to such an extent that it represented around half of all revenues taken in by the Congolese government. In early January 1967, the UMHK was nationalized by the regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko, as a reflection of its enforced departure from the Katanga Province, the new, simplified name Union Minière was adopted. With its more European focus, Union Minière began to grow its business again through the 1980s, Umicore now generates the majority of its revenues from clean technologies, such as recycling, emission control catalysts, materials for rechargeable batteries, and photovoltaics. It is ranked as one of The Global 100’s Most Sustainable Companies in the World, in 2013 it was the top-ranked company and in 2014 it was in ninth place. Umicores copper extraction and refining operations were divested in 2005, with its refining operations following in 2007. The company divides its operations into four divisions, Energy Materials, Recycling, Catalysis, the division also produces and markets products of germanium, both in compounds for doping optical fibres, semiconductor wafers and infrared optics. The unit is headquartered at the plant in Olen near Antwerp, with production. Umicore is the worlds largest recycler of precious metals, other sources of materials used for recycling include slag, spent fuel cells, automotive and industrial catalysts and scrap electronic equipment. Production is headquartered at Umicores precious metals facility in Hoboken near Antwerp, with plants in Germany. Battery Recycling is a business unit, focused on the recycling of spent rechargeable batteries from laptops, mobile phones. Umicores third business segment, its largest in terms of revenue, is composed of two subdivisions, Automotive Catalysts and Precious Metals Chemistry. In automotive catalysts, a field in which the company had begun research in 1968, Umicore increased its presence in the sector with the June 2007 purchase of the catalyst division of troubled American auto parts manufacturer Delphi for $55.6 million. Performance Materials concentrates on the production of specialised items, chiefly from precious metals, the implied free float of the company is 100%. The germanium substrates in the solar cells were also provided by Umicore. The team finished in second in the 2007 race, element Six, independently-run company jointly owned by Umicore and De Beers Nyrstar, company spun off from the zinc and lead smelting assets of Umicore and Zinifex Brion, René, Moreau, Jean-Louis. De la mine à Mars, la genèse dUmicore
7.
Delta Lloyd Group
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Delta Lloyd Group is a Dutch insurer with operations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. It consists of Delta Lloyd, OHRA and ABN AMRO Verzekeringen together, the company is the sixth-largest insurer in the Netherlands, with a market share of approximately 8%. The company is owned by the Dutch foundation Nuts OHRA and publicly traded and it was previously owned by Aviva. On 23 December 2016, competitor NN Group reached an agreement to acquire Delta Lloyd for 2.5 billion Euro, the earliest predecessor of Delta Lloyd, the Hollandsche Societeit van Levensverzekeringen, was founded in 1807. In 1967 it merged with the Amsterdamsche Maatschappij van Levensverzekeringen and was renamed Delta, and in 1969 Delta merged with NedLloyd. In 1973 all shares in Delta were bought by the British firm Commercial Union, in 1999 Delta Lloyd merged with OHRA. The company was renamed Delta Lloyd Group in 2002, the Delta Lloyd Group officially went public on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam on 3 November 2009. Delta Lloyd made 38–42% of its shares public, with its major shareholder Aviva reducing its ownership from 92% to 50–54%, Delta Lloyds other previous shareholder, Nuts OHRA, retained its 8% stake. In July 2012 and January 2013, Aviva sold its part, Delta Lloyd forms the core of the Delta Lloyd Group. It offers saving accounts, insurance and financial planning, OHRA was formed in 1925 and was known as Onderlinge ziektekostenverzekeringsfonds van Hoogere RijksAmbtenaren. ABN AMRO Verzekeringen is a joint venture between ABN AMRO and Delta Lloyd, giving Delta Lloyd the exclusive right to sell insurance through ABN AMRO offices and it had a revenue of €900 million in 2006. For Delta Lloyd this joint venture represents a means of selling insurances. Delta Lloyd was only a player in the health insurance market with 700,000 customers. Delta Lloyd also offers limited banking products, such as savings accounts, Delta Lloyd is also active in Belgium and Germany. In Belgium the company offers insurance and collective insurance. In Germany Delta Lloyd stopped signing new contracts in 2010
8.
Euro
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Outside of Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally,210 million people worldwide as of 2013 use currencies pegged to the euro, the euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The name euro was adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.8252 within two years, it has traded above the U. S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.6038 on 18 July 2008. In July 2012, the euro fell below US$1.21 for the first time in two years, following concerns raised over Greek debt and Spains troubled banking sector, as of 26 March 2017, the euro–dollar exchange rate stands at ~ US$1.07. The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, as an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all states. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, all nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Since 5 January 2002, the central banks and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. Euro banknotes do not show which central bank issued them, Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem. In practice, the ECBs banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs and these liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The euro is divided into 100 cents, in Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are used, with many local variations such as centime in France. All circulating coins have a side showing the denomination or value. Due to the plurality in the European Union, the Latin alphabet version of euro is used. For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, beginning in 2007 or 2008 the old map is being replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the Union like Norway
9.
Sanofi
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Sanofi S. A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Gentilly, France, as of 2013 the worlds fifth-largest by prescription sales. The company was formed as Sanofi-Aventis in 2004 by the merger of Aventis and Sanofi-Synthélabo and it changed its name to Sanofi in May 2011. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, Sanofi engages in the research and development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical drugs principally in the prescription market, but the firm also develops over-the-counter medication. The company covers seven major areas, cardiovascular, central nervous system, diabetes, internal medicine, oncology, thrombosis. Sanofi was founded in 1973 as subsidiary of Elf Aquitaine, when Elf Aquitaine took control of the Labaz group, a pharmaceutical company. In 1993 Sanofi made a move into the Eastern Europe market by acquiring a controlling interest in Chinoin, Sanofi was incorporated under the laws of France in 1994 as a société anonyme, a form of limited liability company. Synthélabo was founded in 1970 through the merger of two French pharmaceutical laboratories, Laboratoires Dausse and Laboratoires Robert & Carrière, in 1973, the French cosmetics group L’Oréal acquired the majority of its share capital. In 1991, Synthelabo acquired Laboratories Delalande and Laboratoires Delagrange, the merged company was based in Paris, France. The merged company was based in Schiltigheim, near Strasbourg, France, Hoechst had seven primary businesses, Hoechst Marion Roussel, AgrEvo, HR Vet, Dade Behring, Centeon, Celanese, and Messer. Aventis invested $45 million in Regeneron and made an upfront payment of $80 million in cash, Sanofi-Aventis was formed in 2004 when Sanofi-Synthélabo acquired Aventis. In early 2004, Sanofi-Synthélabo made a takeover bid worth €47.8 billion for Aventis. The three-month takeover battle concluded when Sanofi-Synthélabo launched a bid of €54.5 billion in place of the previously rejected hostile bid. In 2006, Iraqis infected with HIV sued Sanofi and Baxter due to HIV-contaminated haemophilia blood products sold by Merieux in the 1980s, when Apotex disclosed the oral agreement to the FTC, the FTC launched an investigation that led to Dolan being fired by BMS. Apotex also sued BMS and Sanofi for $3.4 billion for allegedly breaching the settlement agreement, in 2009 the companies expanded the deal to $160 million per year and extended it through 2017. As of 2009 the collaboration had four antibodies in clinical development and had filed an IND for a fifth, the dealmaking continued beyond 2010, and included, In 2008, for about €1. The deal was approved by Brazils antitrust authorities in May 2010, in 2010, for around $130 million, Nepentes Pharma, a Polish dermocosmetics company. In 2010, for around $520.6 million in cash, in 2014, 66% stake in Globalpharma, Dubai-based generics manufacture.7 billion in cash. The deal means Sanofi is now one of the consumer healthcare leaders by market share
10.
Solvay S.A.
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Solvay S. A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. With 145 sites, Solvay employs 30,900 people in 53 countries, before World War I, Solvay was the largest multination company in the world. It was formerly active in pharmaceuticals, but agreed to sell that entire division to Abbott Labs for €4.5 billion in September 2009. In April 2011, the agreed to the €3.4 billion acquisition of French-based chemicals company Rhodia. Since January 2012, the new Solvay is listed on the NYSE Euronext in Paris, Solvay is historically listed on the NYSE Euronext in Brussels and part of BEL20 index. The primary purposes of these changes were to take the Group closer to its customers, be more agile and be placed to seize opportunities. The company is a supporter of the Solvay Conferences that were started by Ernest Solvay in 1911, on December 3,2015, Solvay launched a share issue sent to existing shareholders, completing funding for the $5.5 billion purchase of Cytec Industries Inc. The companys head office is located in Brussels, Belgium, solvays United States subsidiary, Solvay America, Inc. is based in Houston, Texas. Solvay is a partner of Solar Impulse and has contributed important R&D resources to their solar powered airplane project. Currently, Solar Impulse II is attempting a round the world trip, new generation lithium batteries for hybrid vehicles components make use of Solvay fluorinated polymers. Compared to conventional vehicles the hybrids reduce CO2 emissions by 30%, soil remediation Novosol, sodium bicarbonate-based process for treating and recovering mineral residues contaminated with heavy metals. Renewable feedstock Development and industrialization of proprietary Epicerol process for manufacturing epichlorhydrin from natural glycerin
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