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.
Brussels Stock Exchange
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The Brussels Stock Exchange, abbreviated to BSE, was founded in Brussels, Belgium, by decree of Napoleon in 1801. The most well known index on the Brussels Stock Exchange is the BEL20 and it now belongs to the NYSE Euronext group, the first global stock exchange. The building that houses the Brussels Stock Exchange does not have a distinct name and it is located on Boulevard Anspach, and is the namesake of the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein, which is, after the Grand Place, the second most important square in Brussels. As part of the covering of the river Senne for health and aesthetic reasons in the 1860s and 1870s, architect Léon-Pierre Suys, as part of his proposal for covering of the Senne, designed a building to become the centre of the rapidly expanding business sector. It was to be located on the butter market, on the newly created Anspach Boulevard. The building was erected from 1868 to 1873, and mixes elements of the Neo-Renaissance, euro. nm Euronext 100 Euronext Amsterdam Euronext Lisbon Euronext Paris A Euronext pamphlet describing the history of the Brussels Stock Exchange
4.
Market capitalization
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Market capitalization is used by the investment community in ranking the size of companies, as opposed to sales or total asset figures. It is also used in ranking the size of stock exchanges. In performing such rankings, the market capitalizations are calculated at some significant date, the total capitalization of stock markets or economic regions may be compared with other economic indicators. In 2014 and 2015, global market capitalization was US$68 trillion and US$67 trillion, respectively. Market cap is given by the formula M C = N × P, where MC is the capitalization, N is the number of shares outstanding. For example, if company has 4 million shares outstanding. If the closing price per share rises to $21, the cap becomes $84 million. If it drops to $19 per share, the cap falls to $76 million. This is in contrast to mercantile pricing where purchase price, average price, traditionally, companies were divided into large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap. The terms mega-cap and micro-cap have also come into common use. Different numbers are used by different indexes, there is no definition of, or full consensus agreement about. The cutoffs may be defined as rather than in nominal dollars. Market cap reflects only the equity value of a company and it is important to note that a firms choice of capital structure has a significant impact on how the total value of a company is allocated between equity and debt. A more comprehensive measure is enterprise value, which gives effect to outstanding debt, preferred stock, for insurance firms, a value called the embedded value has been used
5.
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
6.
Stock market index
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A stock index or stock market index is a measurement of the value of a section of the stock market. It is computed from the prices of selected stocks and it is a tool used by investors and financial managers to describe the market, and to compare the return on specific investments. An index is a construct, so it may not be invested in directly. But many mutual funds and exchange-traded funds attempt to track an index, Stock market indices may be classified in many ways. A world or global stock market index — such as the MSCI World or the S&P Global 100 — includes stocks from multiple regions, regions may be defined geographically or by levels of industrialization or income. A national index represents the performance of the market of a given nation—and by proxy. Other indices may be regional, such as the FTSE Developed Europe Index or the FTSE Developed Asia Pacific Index, indexes may be based on exchange, such as the NASDAQ-100 or NYSE US100, or groups of exchanges, such as the Euronext 100 or OMX Nordic 40. The concept may be extended well beyond an exchange, russell Investment Group added to the family of indices by launching the Russel Global Index. More specialized indices exist tracking the performance of specific sectors of the market, some indices, such as the S&P500, have multiple versions. These versions can differ based on how the components are weighted. The difference between the full capitalization, float-adjusted, and equal weight versions is in how index components are weighted, an index may also be classified according to the method used to determine its price. In contrast, an index such as the Hang Seng Index factors in the size of the company. Thus, a small shift in the price of a large company will heavily influence the value of the index. Traditionally, capitalization- or share-weighted indices all had a full weighting, recently, many of them have changed to a float-adjusted weighting which helps indexing. An equal-weighted index is one in all components are assigned the same value. For example, the Barrons 400 Index assigns a value of 0. 25% to each of the 400 stocks included in the index. A modified capitalization-weighted index is a hybrid between capitalization weighting and equal weighting, moreover, in 2005, Standard & Poors introduced the S&P Pure Growth Style Index and S&P Pure Value Style Index which was attribute-weighted. For these two indexes, a score is calculated for every stock, be it their growth score or the value score, one argument for capitalization weighting is that investors must, in aggregate, hold a capitalization-weighted portfolio anyway
7.
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
8.
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
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