The owner of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange, has agreed to buy bond platform MarketAxess in a $5.7bn deal, pushing deeper into fixed-income trading. ICE said on Thursday it will pay $167 per share, a 33 per cent premium to Wednesday's closing price.

The deal marks a significant step for ICE into electronic debt trading as it seeks to consolidate bond trading on one large venue. New York-based MarketAxess is one of the world's top electronic bond trading platforms, enabling its more than 2,000 customers to trade and analyse data on corporate and government debt.

It is one of ICE's biggest deals in recent years, following its $11.9bn purchase of mortgage software company Black Knight in 2023. "Together, we will build the fixed-income ecosystem that investors have always deserved — one that is transparent, efficient, fully connected and accessible to all," said Jeff Sprecher, chief executive of ICE.