World’s Biggest Financial Exchange Formed

PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 11, 2007 – Vitol Capital Management lauds the formation of the world's biggest financial exchange after shareholders of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) voted to merge.
"It's the biggest trade in the history of Chicago and it's one of the few trades where it’s a win win situation," Vitol Capital Management CEO Douglas Harbecker said.
The friendly CME bid — worth an estimated $11 billion — was accepted by an overwhelming majority of CBOT shareholders, preliminary results showed.
“CBOT shareholders had been hit with a fierce takeover campaign by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE),” Vitol Capital Management CEO Douglas Harbecker said.
ICE failed to boost its offer after CME sweetened its bid for the third time last week, allowing CBOT shareholders to own some 36 per cent of the combined company, up from 35 per cent in the prior agreement. That extra boost was enough.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the coming days, but it will be 12 to 18 months before the two exchanges are fully integrated, according to Vitol Capital Management.
The combined company will be called CME Group Inc, a CME/Chicago Board of Trade Company. Its market value will be some $30 billion, about 50 per cent bigger than its closest rival, NYSE Euronext, formed by the merger of the New York Stock Exchange and the pan-European bourse.
The Chicago market will be "the world's largest and most diverse exchange, providing products in all major benchmark asset classes", Vitol Capital Management CEO Douglas Harbecker said.
The hard-fought battle came amid a growing role for futures and derivatives in global financial markets.