Nasdaq Plans Stock Offering

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. plans to raise $100 million for its investors in a secondary stock offering, and hopes to list its stock on its own market, the publicly held equities market said Tuesday.

Nasdaq currently trades on the over-the-counter bulletin board system, an electronic forum for lesser-known stocks that generally do not trade often. By listing on the Nasdaq National Market, the company would have a much higher profile.

In the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nasdaq said neither the company nor its executives would be gaining proceeds from the sale, and the shares being offered were held by private investors.

The filing did not say which investors were selling shares, but the two largest private shareholders in Nasdaq are the NASD (formerly National Assn. of Securities Dealers) and private investment firm Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners IV.

The filing did not say when Nasdaq would offer its shares. A Nasdaq spokeswoman declined to comment, citing the SEC’s mandated “quiet period.”

Nasdaq, the company, must still go through the application process to list its shares on the Nasdaq National Market.

The exchange was created by the NASD -- a securities association now chiefly responsible for regulating brokerages -- in 1971, and by 1994 made history by surpassing the New York Stock Exchange in share volume.

Based on Nasdaq’s share price -- the stock closed up $1.54 at $8.34 on Tuesday on the OTC bulletin board -- nearly 11.8 million shares could be offered.