* NYSE Blue to develop global environmental markets
* Current APX CEO Brian Storms to head NYSE Blue
(Adds interview with NYSE Blue CEO, background)
By Nina Chestney
LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - NYSE Euronext and environmental markets infrastructure provider APX Inc. will create a joint venture, NYSE Blue, to develop global environmental markets, the companies said on Tuesday.
"The intention is to create other exchanges in other parts of the market. NYSE Blue will operate as one single company around the world and the trading infrastructure will be linked," Brian Storms, who will become NYSE Blue's chief executive when the deal is cleared, told Reuters in an interview.
NYSE Blue will focus on environmental commodities related to carbon emissions and renewable energy trading but it also sees potential for new types of trading around energy efficiency and water.
Storms, who is currently the chairman and CEO of APX, would not comment on the value of the joint venture.
NYSE Euronext shares in Paris rose 0.76 percent to 23.20 euros at 1429 GMT.
U.S.-based financial markets operator NYSE Euronext said earlier it would contribute its 60 percent shareholding in French emissions exchange BlueNext and be the majority owner of NYSE Blue.
Shareholders in APX Inc., including Goldman Sachs, MissionPoint Capital Partners and ONSET Ventures will take a minority stake in NYSE Blue in return for their shares in APX.
NYSE Blue will try to attract "important and strategic" investors into the new company, Storms said.
It will offer services such as pre-trade and post-trade platforms, environmental registry services, markets reference data and the BlueNext spot emissions platform.
The companies expect the transaction to close by the end of this year, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
EXPANSION
Storms said environmental markets will grow in North America and Asia, even though legislation for a federal U.S. cap-and-trade scheme and global climate pact talks have stalled.
"We are very mindful of the pace environmental markets are developing," said Storms.
"This is a critical marketplace. Over time, policies will be rationalised and we want be in a position to help influence those outcomes and be a major participant when they do develop," Storms said.
Privately-owned APX Inc. provides infrastructure for environmental commodities and energy markets. It has a strong presence in the U.S. renewable energy certificate market and the global voluntary carbon market.
APX may change its name eventually, but its current services will continue under the new joint venture, Storms said.
NYSE EuroNext has a 60 percent stake in Paris-based BlueNext, while French state-owned bank Caisse des Depots holds the remaining 40 percent.
BlueNext is the main marketplace for spot trading in European Union carbon permits under the bloc's $100 billion emissions trading scheme.
"BlueNext will continue to intensely focus on its core business in Europe," Storms said.
He denied that the joint venture was formed in response to NYSE's main U.S. rival Nasdax OMX's purchase of Nordic power exchange Nord Pool ASA in March.
"It was a reaction to the market, not an individual competitor. We believe the two companies will enjoy competitive advantages which they wouldn't have enjoyed separately." (Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by Anthony Barker)