MIXIT Connects to NYSE MatchPoint

MIXIT Inc., a leader in advanced trading technology, announced today that it will be ready to connect brokers and their buy- and sell-side clients to NYSE MatchPoint when the new por tfolio-based, point-in-time electronic block trade facility launches on January 22, 2008. NYSE MatchPoint is a facility of the New York Stock Exchange, a subsidiary of NYSE Euronext (NYX).

MIXIT’s clients may enter one portfolio of buy and sell/short orders, a single block order or multiple portfolios of buy and sell/short orders. NYSE MatchPoint will trade securities listed on all major and regional U.S. stock exchanges.

“Our customers, who include both buy- and sell-side traders, will find enormous value through this new connection we have established with NYSE MatchPoint,” said Walter Fitzgerald, CEO of MIXIT. “MatchPoint will provide an incredible environment for finding natural opaque block liquidity.”

James G. Ross, NYSE MatchPoint vice president, said: “MIXIT will perform a very important role in linking NYSE members and their clients to our new centralized, broker-neutral matching environment, where complete control of order information and execution remains in the hands of users.”

MIXIT is a leading provider of advanced trading technology and FIX connectivity services to the financial industry. The company's integrated suite of products allows firms to trade and communicate with clients in the most anonymous manner. MIXIT's expertise, advanced technology, neutrality and commitment to the highest levels of service provides the foundation for its customers business to prosper.

Schlumberger Declares Quarterly Dividend

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) today announced that its Board of Directors approved a 20% increase of the quarterly dividend. The increased dividend of 21 cents per share on outstanding stock is payable on April 4, 2008 to stockholders of record on February 20, 2008.

About Schlumberger
Schlumberger is the world's leading oilfield services company supplying technology, information solutions and integrated project management that optimize reservoir performance for customers working in the oil and gas industry. The company employs more than 76,000 people of over 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries. Schlumberger supplies a wide range of products and services from seismic acquisition and processing; formation evaluation; well testing and directional drilling to well cementing and stimulation; artificial lift and well completions; and consulting, software, and information management. In 2006, Schlumberger operating revenue was $19.23 billion. For more information, visit www.SLB.com.

GE Corporate Lending Provides $115 Million Credit Facility To Support the Acquisition of Winner Steel, Inc.

GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending today announced it provided a $115 million asset-based credit facility to support the acquisition of Winner Steel, Inc., by a joint venture between Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and Duferco Group. Winner is now operating as Sharon Coating LLC. GE Capital Markets arranged the financing.

Based in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Sharon Coating LLC is one of the largest galvanized steel producers in the United States.

“GE’s extensive knowledge of the steel industry allowed them to quickly understand our needs and move swiftly to fund the loan,” said Bob Miller, CFO of the joint venture’s US operations. “The financing provides our company with the financial flexibility and liquidity required to support our evolving business strategy.”

“Providing smart financing through an understanding of our clients and the industries in which they operate is our specialty,” said Greg Eck, metals and mining industry leader for GE Corporate Lending. “Whether the borrowing need is for acquisition finance, turnarounds or working capital, we are dedicated to finding the right solution to help companies execute their business plans.”

Industry Specialization

To better meet the unique financing needs of customers, GE Corporate Lending has a team of Industry Leaders supported by dedicated research analysts. These industry experts work closely with GE Corporate Lending’s regional teams to build smarter financing solutions for companies across key industries: Aerospace & Defense; Automotive & Automotive Parts; Chemicals & Plastics; Construction; Food, Beverage & Agribusiness; Financial & Business Services; Forest Products; General Manufacturing; Metals and Mining; Retail; Technology & Electronics; and Transportation.

About GE Corporate Lending

With $14 billion in assets, GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending is one of North America’s largest providers of asset-based, cash flow, structured finance and other financial solutions for mid-size and large companies. From over 30 offices throughout the U.S. and Canada, GE Corporate Lending specializes in serving the unique needs of borrowers seeking $20 million to $2 billion and more for working capital, growth, acquisitions, project finance and turnarounds. Visit www.gelending.com/clnews for more information.

About GE Commercial Finance

GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over $250 billion and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work – a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world’s toughest problems. GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.ge.com.

SEC, SEBI Announce Increased Cooperation and Collaboration of Capacity Building Events in India

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today announced terms for increased cooperation and collaboration.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and SEBI Chairman M. Damodaran elaborated the terms establishing the structure of, and agenda for, an SEC-SEBI dialogue. This new dialogue has three main objectives:

• Identify and discuss regulatory issues of common concern


• Continue and expand upon the existing program of capacity-building and technical cooperation between the SEC and the SEBI


• Improve cooperation and the exchange of information in cross-border securities enforcement matters

"As financial services and investment continue to grow and expand between the United States and India, the SEC and SEBI are increasingly working together to facilitate our aims of investor protection and healthy markets," said Chairman Cox. "The SEC has worked with SEBI over the past few years on extensive capacity-building programs as well as enforcement matters. I look forward to continuing and strengthening our regulatory and enforcement cooperation with SEBI through this high-level dialogue."

Chairman Damodaran said, "Given the role that emerging and recently emerged markets play in an increasingly globalised financial world, it is only befitting that the SEBI and SEC work closely for the protection of investors and for ensuring fair, efficient and transparent markets. The high level discussions between the two regulators, while promoting capacity building, would also enable both the SEBI and SEC to take suitable joint and collective action where needed."

Ethiopis Tafara, Director of the SEC Office of International Affairs, said, "This framework for discussion will benefit and shape the SEC staff's continued interaction with officials from the SEBI. The SEC staff has engaged in over two dozen projects related to the Indian markets and met with over 1,000 Indian officials. The new dialogue will build upon these efforts and provide the SEC and SEBI with further opportunities to enhance securities regulation."

The dialogue will be composed of regular meetings and ad hoc information exchange at the staff level and between high-level representatives of the SEC and SEBI.

Given recent developments in both the U.S. and Indian markets, the following topics have been identified for discussion for the dialogue over the coming year:

• Oversight of dually regulated entities


• Regulatory and compliance issues relating to outsourcing


• Accounting and auditing standards


• Corporate governance standards and internal controls


• Areas for continued capacity-building and technical cooperation


• Cross-border cooperation and information sharing in securities enforcement matters

The SEC and SEBI agree that this is not an exclusive list of issues to be discussed in the dialogue and that the list may be revised as new regulatory issues affecting the India and U.S. markets emerge in the course of the year.

The SEC-SEBI dialogue was announced after completion of an extensive two-week, SEC-SEBI capacity-building and technical cooperation session on a variety of topics held in India at the end of December 2007. Highlights of the capacity-building effort were two training programs and a CCOutreach program for chief compliance officers of U.S. registered investment advisers located in Asia. In the CCOutreach program, topics included compliance risk assessment, establishing and testing compliance controls and common deficiencies found in SEC examinations.

The capacity-building programs conducted by the SEC involved a four-day training program in Mumbai on Securities Market Oversight and Enforcement which 55 Indian regulators attended. Topics included broker-dealer compliance, hedge fund regulatory concerns, broker-dealer and investment adviser inspections, insider trading, and market manipulation. The SEC also conducted a two-day training program in New Delhi on corporate finance and corporate disclosure which 25 officials for SEBI regional offices attended. Topics included the offering process, financial fraud, asset-backed securities and corporate governance.

NYSE MatchPoint Rules Approved by SEC

NYSE Euronext (NYSE Euronext: NYX) today announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the rules for NYSE MatchPoint, a new, portfolio-based, point-in-time electronic facility of the New York Stock Exchange that matches aggregated orders at predetermined sessions throughout regular hours and after hours of the Exchange. MatchPoint will trade securities listed on all major and regional U.S. stock exchanges. It is expected to begin operation on January 22, 2008.

“NYSE MatchPoint is a major step forward in our broad initiative to provide investors with a choice of how to transact trades at the New York Stock Exchange,” said Lawrence Leibowitz, Head of U.S. Products, NYSE Euronext. “It’s unique in the exchange environment due to its portfolio-based approach. By offering MatchPoint and our recently-announced joint venture with BIDS, w e’re providing investors two new, complementary ways to trade block orders.”

“NYSE MatchPoint will leverage the neutrality of the New York Stock Exchange with open connectivity and comprehensive regulatory infrastructure to provide a nondisplayed trading environment unlike any other,” said James G. Ross, Vice President, NYSE MatchPoint. “Both portfolio-based and single block trade investors will each find immense added value in this new, centralized facility of the Exchange.”

The first NYSE MatchPoint matching session will be an after hours match at 4:45 p.m. that uses the official closing price of the primary market. Soon, matching sessions will be established during regular hours of the Exchange. The first will take place at 9:45 a.m. , followed by matching sessions at 10 a.m. , 11 a.m. , 12 noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. T he price of the intraday match will be the mid-point of the NBBO that is randomly selected during a one-minute pricing period. An investor may enter one portfolio of buy and sell/short orders, a single block order or multiple portfolios of buy and sell /short orders.

Investors that rely on index-based or model-driven trading and investment strategies will find NYSE MatchPoint’s portfolio-based capabilities to be a very effective trading tool. In addition, NYSE MatchPoint’s non-displayed, point-in-time approach aggregates individual block orders and increases the depth of the liquidity pool and enhances the opportunity of a natural match.

Participation in crossing services has grown significantly in the past couple of years, so the NYSE MatchPoint initiative presents a sizeable opportunity. The new NYSE crossing service is uniquely positioned over existing offerings given the combination of sophisticated portfolio-based trading technology (including cash constraints), competitive pricing, and exchange neutrality. NYSE MatchPoint is expected to attract broad participation from broker/dealers, as well as institutions and hedge funds through broker sponsorship.

For more information about NYSE MatchPoint see: nyse.com/matchpoint.

About NYSE Euronext

NYSE Euronext, a holding company created by the combination of NYSE Group, Inc. and Euronext N.V., commenced trading on April 4, 2007. NYSE Euronext (NYSE Euronext: NYX) operates the world’s largest and most liquid exchange group and offers the most diverse array of financial products and services. NYSE Euronext, which brings together six cash equities exchanges in five countries and six derivatives exchanges in six countries, is a world leader for listings, trading in cash equities, equity and interest rate derivatives, bonds and the distribution of market data. Representing a combined $30.3 trillion/€21.3 trillion total market capitalization of listed companies and average daily trading value of approximately $139 billion/€103 billion (as of September 30, 2007), NYSE Euronext seeks to provide the highest standards of market quality and integrity, innovative products and services to investors, issuers, and all users of its markets. NYSE Euronext is part of the S&P 500 and S&P 100 indexes.

NASDAQ Announces 2007 New Listings Statistics

The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ(r)) (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced its 2007 listings statistics. NASDAQ attracted more initial public offerings (IPOs) last year than any other U.S. exchange. Of the 237 IPOs that were eligible to list on NASDAQ or the NYSE Group last year, NASDAQ listed 154, or 65 percent.

Many of the largest U.S. IPOs, as measured by proceeds raised, listed on NASDAQ. They were led by Interactive Broker Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:IBKR) and TFS Financial Corporation, (Nasdaq:TFSL), which raised more than $1.2 billion and $871.3 million, respectively.

Led by DirectTV (Nasdaq:DTV), more market capitalization switched to NASDAQ from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2007, a total of $28.3 billion. DirectTV was the first NYSE-listed company to switch to NASDAQ and retain its three character ticker symbol.

NASDAQ continued to win more new listings than any other U.S. exchange, as measured by the total number of issues. During 2007, NASDAQ captured 290 new listings, comprised of the following categories:

                                            4th Qtr
                                              2007     2007    2006
                                            -------    ----    ----
 Total New Listings                            90       290     285
 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)               44       154     156
 Amex & NYSE Switches/Dual Listings            14        34      37
 Upgrades from OTCBB & Pink Sheets             20        75      59
 ETFs, Structured Products & Other Listings    12        27      33

Notable listings in 2007 included the IPOs of National CineMedia, Inc. (Nasdaq:NCMI),
Los Angeles-based REIT MerueloMaddux Properties (Nasdaq:MMPI) and Clearwire Corporation (Nasdaq:CLWR) and the switches from the American Stock Exchange (Amex) of Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:HALO), National Beverage Corp. (Nasdaq:FIZZ), and PowerSecure International (Nasdaq:POWR). NASDAQ also saw several notable industrial listings, including the IPOs of Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:OESX) and Greek shipping company Paragon Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq:PRGN) and the Amex switches of Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (Nasdaq:OMEX) and PowerSecure International, Inc.

NASDAQ saw 45 non-U.S. new listings in 2007, including the switch of Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (Nasdaq:SBLK) from the Amex and the IPOs of Argentinean Internet commerce company MercadoLibre, Inc. (Nasdaq:MELI), Canadian yoga-inspired athletic apparel company lululemon athletica (Nasdaq:LULU), Chinese media company VisionChina Media Inc. (Nasdaq:VISN), and Bermuda-based insurer Castlepoint Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq:CPHL).

Of the 31 companies that switched from the Amex, 12 elected to retain their three character symbols. This was made possible by the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approval of a NASDAQ proposal in July 2007 to allow NASDAQ to accept three character ticker symbols -- in addition to the four character symbols NASDAQ has historically used.

Below is a partial list of the Amex companies that switched to NASDAQ in 2007:

 Company                                 Ticker Symbol
 -------                                 -------------
 Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.              Nasdaq:HALO
 Star Bulk Carriers Corp.                 Nasdaq:SBLK
 Akorn, Inc.                              Nasdaq:AKRX
 Medivation, Inc.                         Nasdaq:MDVN

Other notable developments in 2007 are highlighted below:


- Watson Wyatt and Company Holdings (SYMBOL: WW) and Allied Capital
Corporation (SYMBOL: ALD) dual listed their common stock on the
NASDAQ Global Select Market. These listings increased to 12 the
number of NYSE-listed securities that have dual listed on NASDAQ.

- The NASDAQ Global Select Market -- which has the highest initial
listing standards in the world -- became the largest of NASDAQ's
three listing tiers. As of December 31, 2007, there were 1,156
companies listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

To view all new NASDAQ listings in 2007, visit http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/documents/NASDAQ_New_Listings_2007.pdf

Statistics are sourced from internal NASDAQ information. IPOs include offerings done on a "best efforts" basis. For more information about these and other NASDAQ market performance statistics, visit www.nasdaqfacts.com/newlistings.

NASDAQ is the largest U.S. equities exchange. With approximately 3,100 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. It is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media and biotechnology. NASDAQ is the primary market for trading NASDAQ-listed stocks as well as a leading liquidity pool for trading NYSE-listed stocks. For more information about NASDAQ, visit the NASDAQ Web site at http://www.nasdaq.com/ or the NASDAQ Newsroom at www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/.

IBM Acquires XIV

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has acquired XIV, a privately held storage technology company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. XIV, its technologies and employees, will become part of the IBM System Storage business unit of the IBM Systems and Technology Group. Financial terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

"The acquisition of XIV will further strengthen the IBM infrastructure portfolio long term and put IBM in the best position to address emerging storage opportunities like Web 2.0 applications, digital archives and digital media," said Andy Monshaw, general manager, IBM System Storage. "The ability for almost anyone to create digital content at any time has accelerated the need for a whole new way of applying infrastructure solutions to the new world of digital information. IBM's goal is to provide the leading technologies and solutions at every layer of the data center -- storage, servers, software and services -- to address these new realities IT customers face."

To address the new requirements associated with next generation digital content, IBM chose XIV and its NEXTRA™ architecture for its ability to scale dynamically, heal itself in the event of failure, and self-tune for optimum performance, all while eliminating the significant management burden typically associated with rapid growth environments. The architecture also is designed to automatically optimize resource utilization of all the components within the system, which can allow for easier management and configuration and improved performance and data availability.

"We are pleased to become a significant part of the IBM family, allowing for our unique storage architecture, our engineers and our storage industry experience to be part of IBM's overall storage business," said Moshe Yanai, chairman, XIV. "We believe the level of technological innovation achieved by our development team is unparalleled in the storage industry. Combining our storage architectural advancements with IBM's world-wide research, sales, service, manufacturing, and distribution capabilities will provide us with the ability to have these technologies tackle the emerging Web 2.0 technology needs and reach every corner of the world."

The NEXTRA architecture has been in production for more than two years, with more than four petabytes of capacity being used by customers today.

IBM's acquisition of XIV supports the IBM growth strategy and capital allocation model, as part of the company's overall objective for earnings-per-share growth through 2010.

Through its deep industry expertise, patent leadership, research and innovation, IBM has long been the leader in providing customers with technology solutions that help them deliver and utilize information effectively. With industry recognized leadership in storage and server hardware and software, and through the recent strategic acquisitions of Softek, FileNet and NovusCG, IBM has grown its storage services offerings and presents customers with strategic solutions to deliver integrated software, hardware, services and research in standardized offerings that can be used by customers of all sizes to help them transform their businesses.

About XIV

For more information about XIV, please visit http://www.xivstorage.com.

About IBM

For more information about IBM System Storage, please visit http://www.ibm.com/storage.

Siemens to Acquire Morgan Construction Company

The Siemens Division Industrial Solutions (IS) strengthens its position in metals technologies with the acquisition of Morgan Construction Co., Worcester, MA, U.S.A., a designer and producer of high-quality rolling-mill products and services for the metals industry worldwide. In 2006, Morgan reported sales of 180 Mio USD and employed around 1,100 people in the U.S.A., China, India, the United Kingdom, and in Brazil. Siemens intends to take over 100% of the Morgan Construction shares. All parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction is conditional upon the approval of the relevant authorities.

Morgan Construction Company is acknowledged as a leader in rolling mill technology. Founded in 1888, Morgan Construction Company is worldwide supplier of wire rod rolling-mill equipment for the long-products industry today. Morgan has designed and installed more than 450 rod, bar, and billet mills in over 40 countries worldwide, setting benchmarks as a designer, manufacturer and service provider of high-speed rod, bar, combination mills and handling equipment for the steel and non-ferrous industries. The technology includes the patented Reducing/Sizing Mill, which enables products to be rolled faster, with closer tolerances and at lower costs.

“With the acquisition of Morgan Construction we combine its competence in the sector of rolling mill equipment with our know-how in industrial automation,” said Dr. Richard Pfeiffer, CEO Siemens VAI Metal Technologies. “This step underscores our position as a trendsetter in rolling and processing solutions. We will improve our capabilities to offer integrated solutions by increasing the degree of standardization.”

Philip R. Morgan, President and CEO of Morgan, said: “The fit between our two companies is remarkably good. Morgan Construction is the acknowledged leader in the design and manufacture of wire rod mills and Siemens Metals Technologies has a very strong bar mill group. There are true synergies between the two companies, which strengthen the position of both in the flat product rolling mill area.” With Siemens, Morgan has access to the Siemens´ resources worldwide, which improves Morgan´s global market presence. “This will assure long-term stability for our manufacturing facilities and employees,” Morgan said.

Morgan Construction will be a group company of Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services under the responsibility of the IS Business Unit VAI Metals Technologies, headquartered in Linz/Austria.



Siemens VAI Metals Technologies (MT) is one of the world's leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-rolling sector of the aluminum industry and for open-cast mining. MT, which was created from the integration of Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, Linz/Austria, plus the electrical engineering product business and automation solutions of Siemens, provides a comprehensive range of supplies and services for all related technological processes and integrated automation solutions for the entire life-cycle of metallurgical plants.