Electronic broker Instinet has rejected a bid by New York-based Third Avenue Management to buy its institutional brokergage unit, saying it preferred to continue with its pending merger with Nasdaq.
Nasdaq agreed to buy Instinet - which is majority owned by Reuters - for $1.9bn in April. As part of the deal Instinet agreed to sell the brokerage unit off to private equity group Silver Lake Partners for $207.5m.
Third Avenue Management, which is an Instinet shareholder, offered to buy the business for $307m.
In a statement, Instinet says: "Third Avenue's proposal, by its terms, is not a proposal to acquire 100% of Instinet Group, but only one of its businesses, and requires Nasdaq's participation.
"For this reason, among others, the proposal is not reasonably likely to constitute a "superior proposal" as defined in the Nasdaq merger agreement, and therefore Instinet is not in a position to further pursue it."