The CBOE Stock Exchange has announced that it will acquire the National Stock Exchange.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s CBSX unit has has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the National Stock Exchange, an all-electronic stock exchange owned by a consortium of broker-dealers.

“The acquisition of NSX is an important milestone, marking a new phase of growth at CBSX,” said CBSX chief executive officer David Harris in a statement. “Economies of scale should enable us to efficiently operate a second exchange and to grow our customer base by providing additional pricing models to the U.S. equities marketplace.”

“With the changing landscape of the securities marketplace and after careful consideration, NSX felt it was in the best interests of its customers to pursue an acquisition by a market structure innovator such as CBSX,” said Joseph S. Rizzello, NSX chief executive officer in the statement. “We are confident that the acquisition by CBSX will be a seamless transition and will enable NSX to continue to showcase its strong infrastructure without any interruption to the outstanding service and technology expected by NSX’s customer base.”

A spokeswoman from the NSX declined to comment on the matter any further than what was stated on the release. Spokespeople from CBOE did not immediately return requests for comment.

The CBSX plans to operate the NSX as a separate entity, while consolidating their business operations and data systems.

In July, CBSX relocated its trading operations to the East Coast from Chicago and began trading from a data center in Secaucus, N.J.  The move was aimed at increasing execution speed for the majority of CBSX’s customers, which are located on the East Coast. The NSX has operations in nearby Jersey City as well.

The move to add the NSX to its umbrella will help CBSX expand its overall equities market share. According to BATS Global Markets, CBSX has about 0.09 percent market share, while the NSX has 0.53 percent share.