Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange to Buy NYSE

(The following is a transcript of the story that aired during WABE’s 6:00 newscast.)

I’ve lived in Atlanta for a while now.  And even with GPS, I still had to ask for directions.  Twice.  To find this place.

(Sound of GPS).

IntercontinentalExchange—best known globally as a commodities marketplace—has no towering Downtown or Midtown location.  Instead, it’s tucked away in a dark grey, non-descript building near I-285 and Northside Drive.

And heed my advice—don’t drop in for an unannounced visit.

Security guard:  ”Before you say anything, I have to ask you to leave”

So why Atlanta?  Jeff Rosensweig is a finance professor at Emory’s Goizueta Business School.  

“Atlanta is a hub of higher education. And really what we’re saying is it’s not physical location, it’s human talent.”

And he says Atlanta has a lot of that. Add in a good tech infrastructure and our place as a transportation hub, and he says it kind of makes sense.

Still, don’t expect the famed trading floor to venture south.

“It will be, as far as I can see, a dual-headquarter thing.  They’re not going to close down the NYSE.”

Despite ICE’s relative drab Atlanta office space, the company plans to open a shiny new office in Midtown next year… that’s Midtown, Manhattan.

Antitrust regulators must still approve the deal.