Pan-European exchange group Euronext is planning an IPO on its own exchanges which could see the London-based derivatives group migrate its current IT platform inside parent group IntercontinentalExchange (ICE’s) London data center over to a colocation arrangement.

The move will ensure customers taking out colocation space close to trading engines for high frequency trading and other low-latency activities still benefit from relationships formed by the exchanges.

Last year Atlanta-based ICE bought NYSE Euronext, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, for US$11bn, and its move to spin off Euronext as an exchange focussing on the European continent has been expected for some time.

NYSE Euronext migrated all of its matching engines for European markets to a new state-of-the-art data center in Basildon, UK, in November 2010, including NYSE Liffe.

It now offers colocation from the facility.

At that time, Euronext was part of the NYSE Euronext group.

ICE bought Euronext from NYSE in December 2012 for US$8bn and made it clear that at time it expected to sell the Euronext portion of the company, including its Amsterdam, Lisbon, Brussels and Paris exchanges.

Today Euronext also operates the London-based Liffe derivatives exchange and its related market data services but this will move to ICE on its own trading platform as part of the IPO.

“The IT services supporting Liffe’s exchanges will be terminated once Liffe has completed its migration to ICE’s technology platform, which is intended to take place by the end of 2014,” Euronext said.

ICE had considered offloading the Basildon data center site but committed to its operations in December last year, saying matching engines for Liffe markets would remain there.

Euronext has also applied for regulatory approval to operate Euronext in London as an investment exchange.

Dominique Cerutti, Euronext CEO, said three “converging trends” have driven Euronext’s separation from its parent group and the US.

“An increased desire for transparency, a new level of demand for diverse

sources of capital and the emerging economic recovery in Europe are driving more activity onto regulated exchanges and position Euronext well,” Cerutti said.

He said the IPO will enable Euronext to better serve the economy, and boost its information services and market solutions.