CME CME Group Inc

CHICAGO, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CME Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) today announced it priced an underwritten public offering of $250 million aggregate principal amount of floating rate notes due 2009, $300 million aggregate principal amount of floating rate notes due 2010 and $750 million aggregate principal amount of 5.40% notes due 2013. The floating rate notes due 2009 will bear interest equal to LIBOR plus 0.20% per year, adjusted quarterly. The floating rate notes due 2010 will bear interest equal to LIBOR plus 0.65% per year, adjusted quarterly. The offering is being made under CME Group's existing shelf registration statement and is expected to close on August 12, 2008, subject to customary closing conditions. CME Group intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with other available funds, to finance its previously announced proposed acquisition of NYMEX Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:NMX). The offering is not conditioned upon completion of the acquisition. If the acquisition is not completed, CME Group intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the floating rate notes for general corporate purposes. The 5.40% notes have a mandatory redemption feature if the acquisition is not completed prior to December 31, 2008 or if the merger agreement is terminated on or prior to such date. This announcement is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Any offers of the notes will be made exclusively by means of a prospectus and prospectus supplement. Banc of America Securities LLC and UBS Securities LLC are acting as representatives of the underwriters. Copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained by contacting Banc of America Securities LLC, Prospectus Department, 100 West 33rd Street, 3rd Floor, New York, New York 10001, 800-294-1322; or UBS Securities LLC, 677 Washington Boulevard, Stamford, CT 06901, Attn: Fixed Income Syndicate, toll-free 877-827-6444, ext. 561 3884. About CME Group CME Group is the world's largest and most diverse derivatives exchange. Formed by the 2007 merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), CME Group serves the risk management needs of customers around the globe. As an international marketplace, CME Group brings buyers and sellers together on the CME Globex electronic trading platform and on its trading floors. CME Group offers the widest range of benchmark products available across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities and alternative investment products such as weather and real estate. CME Group is traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol "CME." The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group, Globex and E-mini, are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago. Forward Looking Statements: Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. Among the factors that might affect our performance are: our ability to obtain the required approvals and to satisfy the closing conditions for our proposed merger with NYMEX Holdings, Inc. and our ability to realize the benefits and control the costs of the proposed transaction and operating NYMEX Holdings' businesses after the completion of the proposed transaction; the risk of an unfavorable judgment or ruling in the class action litigation regarding the proposed merger with NYMEX Holdings; our ability to successfully complete the integration of the businesses of CME Holdings, CBOT Holdings and NYMEX Holdings, including the fact that such integration may be more difficult, time consuming or costly than expected and revenues and synergies following the merger may be lower than expected; increasing competition by foreign and domestic entities, including increased competition from new entrants into our markets and consolidation of existing entities; our ability to keep pace with rapid technological developments, including our ability to complete the development and implementation of the enhanced functionality required by our customers; our ability to continue introducing competitive new products and services on a timely, cost-effective basis, including through our electronic trading capabilities, and our ability to maintain the competitiveness of our existing products and services; our ability to adjust our fixed costs and expenses if our revenues decline; our ability to continue to generate revenues from our processing services; our ability to maintain existing customers and strategic relationships and attract new ones; our ability to expand and offer our products in foreign jurisdictions; changes in domestic and foreign regulations; changes in government policy, including policies relating to common or directed clearing or changes as a result of a potential combination with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; the costs associated with protecting our intellectual property rights and our ability to operate our business without violating the intellectual property rights of others; our ability to generate revenue from our market data that may be reduced or eliminated by decreased demand or by the growth of electronic trading; changes in our rate per contract due to shifts in the mix of the products traded, the trading venue and the mix of customers (whether the customer receives member or non-member fees or participates in one of our various incentive programs) and the impact of our tiered pricing structure; the ability of our financial safeguards package to adequately protect us from the credit risks of clearing firms; the ability of our compliance and risk management methods to effectively monitor and manage our risks; changes in price levels and volatility in the derivatives markets and in underlying fixed income, equity, foreign exchange and commodities markets; economic, political and market conditions; natural disasters and other catastrophes, our ability to accommodate increases in trading volume and order transaction traffic without failure or degradation of performance of our systems; our ability to execute our growth strategy and maintain our growth effectively; our ability to manage the risks and control the costs associated with our acquisition, investment and alliance strategy; our ability to continue to generate funds and/or manage our indebtedness to allow us to continue to invest in our business; industry and customer consolidation; decreases in trading and clearing activity; the potential imposition of a transaction tax on futures and options on futures transactions; the seasonality of the futures business; other risks detailed in our filings with the SEC; and changes in the regulation of our industry with respect to speculative trading in commodity interests and derivative contracts. For more information regarding other related risks, see Item 1A of CME Group's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007 and additional updates to these risks contained in our Quarterly reports. Copies of said 10-K and 10-Qs are available online at http://www.sec.gov/ or upon request from CME Group. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Except for any obligation to disclose material information under the Federal securities laws, CME Group undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release. Important Acquisition Information In connection with the proposed transaction involving CME Group and NYMEX Holdings, CME Group has filed a registration statement on Form S-4 with the SEC containing a final joint proxy statement/prospectus, which the SEC declared effective on July 21, 2008. Investors and security holders are urged to read the final prospectus/proxy statement and any other such documents, when available, which will contain important information about the proposed transaction. The final prospectus/proxy statement and other documents filed or to be filed by CME Group with the SEC are or will be available free of charge at the SEC's Web site (http://www.sec.gov/) or from CME Group, Inc., Attention: Shareholder Relations, 20 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606, (312) 930-1000 or NYMEX Holdings, Inc., Attention: Investor Relations, at One North End Avenue, World Financial Center, New York, New York 10282, (212) 299-2000. CME Group and NYMEX Holdings and their respective directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from CME Group and NYMEX Holdings shareholders in respect of the proposed transaction. Information regarding CME Group and NYMEX Holdings' directors and executive officers is available in their respective proxy statements for their 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. Additional information regarding the interests of such potential participants is included in the joint proxy statement/prospectus and the other relevant documents filed with the SEC when they become available. CME-G DATASOURCE: CME Group, Inc. CONTACT: Anita Liskey, +1-312-466-4613, or Laurie Bischel, +1-312-634-8698, , or Investors, John Peschier, +1-312-930-8491 Web site: http://www.cme.com/

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