Launching Jiway has been an expensive affair

OM already owned 60% of the shares, and has now increased this to100%.

It is not clear how much, if anything, OM paid for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover's stake.

Company officials were tight lipped about it.

Disappointing record

Jiway's performance has proven very disappointing.

The online exchange was launched in November 2000 with the promise of offering superior technology.

OM's chief executive says Jiway must slash costs

But nobody seemed to be impressed by this supposedly revolutionary product.

Only 4,000 trades were executed by the online stock exchange during the first half year of trading.

Since then, volume has picked up, with 2,900 trades in July and 6,147 in August.

But this volume of trade is still not enough to enable the exchange to break even.

The Swedish part of Jiway should break even next year, OM said, although it did not comment on when Jiway's London arm would break even.

Cutting costs

OM will take full control of Jiway on 1 October

"Given the current market conditions, it is necessary for Jiway to reduce its cost base," said Morgan Stanley managing director Jerker Johansson.

"This is best achieved by integrating the operations with those of OM," he said.

"This restructuring enables Jiway to retain its full potential, whilst substantially reducing its cost base," said OM chief executive Per Larsson.

Jiway's losses pulled the whole of OM into the red during the second quarter of 2001.