NYSE Liffe, the Europe-based derivatives business of NYSE Euronext (NYX), will add options on the shares of Ziggo to its highly successful range of equity option classes.

The launch of options follows the successful initial public offering of Dutch cable operator Ziggo which took place on March 21st. This IPO was the largest in Europe in almost a year. The Ziggo options will be introduced on the Amsterdam derivatives market of NYSE Liffe on 12 April 2012.

Ade Cordell (pictured), Executive Director of Equity Derivatives at NYSE Liffe, says: “We are pleased to announce the launch of Ziggo options which will provide our customers with new investment opportunities. The new Ziggo options enable investors to hedge their share positions and to benefit from price fluctuations. A new options listing is also beneficial to the liquidity of the underlying share.”

Bernard Dijkhuizen, CEO of Ziggo, says: “The new listed options will enhance Ziggo’s profile in the investment community and contribute to the liquidity of the shares. This is another step in offering investors an even more complete range of opportunities to invest in Ziggo.”

These new American-style options (ticker symbol: ZGO) will expire on the third Friday of the contract month and will have initial lifetimes of one to nine months. Each option will represent 100 shares in Ziggo and will be cleared via LCH.Clearnet SA. NYSE Liffe will select up to three PMMs and nine CMMs to support liquidity in the options.

In the first 2 months of 2012, 22 million equity options were traded on NYSE Liffe, which trades equity futures and options on more than 1,000 leading European stocks.