EUROPE- Pan European exchange Euronext has announced a complete restructuring that will see it divided into four separate business units.

Euronext was formed in 2000 following the merger between the French, Dutch and Belgian exchanges. Liffe, the London-based derivatives exchange, joined the grouping a year later.

Chief executive Jean Francois Theodore says the new structure will be based on product lines and profit centres, a move that ought to ease reported tensions between the French and Dutch elements of the exchange.

George Moller, formerly head of the Amsterdam exchange and the man set to succeed Mr Theodore in 2004, is to run a cash markets division as well as clearing and settlement.

Hugh Freedburg will run a new derivatives division with Peter Friend as his deputy and Leni Boeren will oversee an information services division. Client support centres will be maintained in each of Euronext’s five locations.

Each business unit will have full accountability for profit and loss, a move that Mr Theodore says will increase the transparency for the entire group.

The original merger drew critical press coverage, not least in the Netherlands where it continued yesterday with reports claiming Euronext is to axe a further 200 jobs.

Mr Theodore dismissed the reports as inaccurate saying the jobs were being outsourced to a French IT company.