Deutsche Boerse will have upper hand in NYSE merger - CEO

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Boerse <DB1Gn.DE> will have the upper hand in the planned mega-merger deal with NYSE Euronext <NYX.N>, the exchange operators' chief executive told a paper, as fears of fading significance linger.

The proposed $10.2 billion (6.2 billion pounds) takeover of NYSE Euronext by Deutsche Boerse unveiled last month would leave Boerse's shareholders with 60 percent of the combined entity, but analysts have cautioned that the company may end up with less power. In a letter from NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer to NYSE staff, the deal was touted as a "merger of two great companies, not a sale or an acquisition," with Frankfurt and New York both emerging winners.

But a close look at a merger filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that in the long run, the New York bourse could win the upper hand, despite Deutsche Boerse's larger size.

In an excerpt of an interview with German business daily Handelsblatt to be published on Monday, Deutsche Boerse Chief Executive Reto Francioni said the high market capitalization "puts us (Deutsche Boerse) in a position to do this deal the way we envisage it."

He was also quoted as saying that the synergies of the deal may be higher than the $300 million expected so far, adding that Frankfurt as a financial market place would be strengthened by the deal.

"Loss anxiety is absolutely misplaced," Francioni, who would become chairman of the combined company, said, adding no decision had been made yet on the name.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)