ICE makes 9.9-billion-dollar bid for Chicago Board of Trade

Mar 19, 2007, 17:39 GMT

Washington - The Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange Inc, which handles nearly half of the world's futures trading, Monday made a 9.9-billion-dollar unsolicited bid to take over the Chicago Board of Trade.

The bid outgunned the 8.9-billion-dollar bid from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc, which would keep ownership of Chicago's two largest exchanges in Chicago, Bloomberg financial news service reported.

Intercontinental operates the leading European electronic energy future markets, which handles about half the volume of the global crude oil futures deals. The company acquired the New York Board of Trade in January for 1.8 billion dollars, where agricultural and financial products are handled.

Politicans and local supporters want ownership to stay local to keep the two exchanges from further takeover attempts. Together, the two boards and related firms employ more than 150,000 people in Illinois. They account for 80 billion dollars in overnight deposits, supporters were quoted as saying.

But some analysts believe the owners will vote otherwise.

'The membership at the Board of Trade is more interested in valuation than the politics or nostalgia of Chicago- Chicago said Andy Daniels, chief executive officer of Daniels Trading Co. in Chicago, was quoted as saying. 'It's all dollars and cents.'