March 31, 2006	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427

FRANKFURT, March 30: The German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse said its supervisory board met on Thursday and that it “welcomed” the decision of its management board to launch concrete negotiations with Euronext on a potential merger.

The supervisory board shares the views outlined by the executive board in its public statement referring to such a merger, it said in a statement. The operator of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange said on March 15 that it was interested in a merger of equals with Euronext, which operates the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Madrid exchanges. —AFP