It has come to the knowledge, that today Mr. Timothy R. Barakett, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Atticus Capital LP ("Atticus"), filed a form of notification with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. It has been reported by Euronext NV, that for the result of transactions on Monday 16 January, 2006, Atticus-managed funds currently own in the aggregate 7.6% of the outstanding shares of Euronext NV.  Moreover, an additional 1.5% of Euronext's outstanding shares are owned by other accounts advised by Atticus, bringing to 9.1% the total shareholdings in Euronext controlled by Atticus.
 

Atticus Capital LP is a foremost investment management firm, with in excess of US$9 billion of assets under management. From its commencement in 1995 by Timothy Barakett, the firm is headquartered in New York with an office in London. Atticus as an investment management firm usually invests in global securities markets on behalf of its clients. Timothy Barakett, Chairman and CEO, and David Slager, Senior Managing Director, are in the topmost hierarchy of the firm's portfolio management team. Nathaniel Rothschild is the Co-Chairman of the firm.

The Atticus has been a shareholder in Euronext for over a year, and has already invested over 1 billion euro through out the globe in publicly listed exchange operators. In addition to its Euronext investment, Atticus happened to be a significant shareholder of Deutsche Boerse AG.

While talking to the newsroom Mr. David Slager, the Senior Portfolio Manager at Atticus said, "We have been a long-term believer in the business model of securities exchanges and continue to see increasing global consolidation occurring in this sector. We would support a friendly merger of equals between Euronext and Deutsche Boerse, which would create a formidable Euro zone champion with the resources and franchise to compete for global liquidity and global listings. Significant cost savings would benefit both shareholders and customers of the merged company, making the European capital markets more efficient."

He added, "We were happy to read the public news that Deutsche Boerse AG and Euronext NV were in merger negotiations, but disturbed that the merger talks had stalled, reportedly over relatively minor issues such as location of company headquarters. We would encourage both management teams and supervisory boards to reconsider the benefits of a combination of the two companies."