CHICAGO, March 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CME Group Inc.
(Nasdaq: CME), the world's leading and most diverse derivatives
marketplace, and Dow Jones & Company today announced the launch
of the new joint venture company, CME Group Index Services LLC.
CME Group has a 90 percent ownership interest and Dow Jones
has a 10 percent ownership interest in the new company, which
continues to do business as Dow Jones Indexes and includes the Dow
Jones Industrial Average as well as approximately 130,000 index
properties.
"There is an increased demand for index products and services in
the marketplace, particularly outside the U.S.," said CME Group
Executive Chairman Terry Duffy.
"By combining CME Group's resources and expertise in index
derivatives trading with Dow Jones' world-class benchmark indices,
we will be well positioned to develop and expand our index and
market data offerings, fueling growth opportunities across all
asset classes."
"We are pleased to announce the completion of our new joint
venture with Dow Jones, which will provide us with new growth
opportunities across asset classes and around the world," said
Craig Donohue, CME Group Chief
Executive Officer. "We look forward to building on the strong
products and services, as well as client relationships that Dow
Jones has developed. Both institutional and retail customers
globally rely on Dow Jones' benchmark indexes, particularly the Dow
Jones Industrial Average. Together, we expect to create new
opportunities for our customers by developing innovative new
products and expanding our market data dissemination services to
our global network of clients and exchange partners."
Dow Jones & Company will contribute the Dow Jones Indexes
business, valued at $675 million, and
CME Group will contribute certain market data services, valued at
$607.5 million, to the joint venture.
CME Group Index Services LLC, has issued $612.5 million in aggregate principal amount of
senior notes due 2018, with an annual coupon of 4.4% and an
effective rate of 4.6%, which was used to pay a $607.5 million distribution to Dow Jones.
The notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by CME
Group Inc.
About CME Group
CME Group is the leading equity index derivatives marketplace,
offering futures and options on key benchmark indexes that cover
the spectrum of small-, medium- and large-cap indexes in the U.S.,
Europe and Asia, including the DJIA as well as the
S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Nikkei 225 Stock Average, MSCI EAFE,
FTSE/Xinhua China 25.
As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace,
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage
risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global
benchmark products across all major asset classes, including
futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes,
foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather
and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together
through its CME Globex electronic trading platform and its trading
facilities in New York and
Chicago. CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the
largest central counterparty clearing services in the world, which
provides clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded
contracts, as well as for over-the-counter derivatives transactions
through CME ClearPort. These products and services ensure
that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty
credit risk in both listed and over-the-counter derivatives
markets.
The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group,
Globex, E-mini and CME ClearPort 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. NYMEX and New York
Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange,
Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners. Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and
its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.
Statements in this press 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: 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 generate revenues from our processing
services; our ability to maintain existing customers, develop
strategic relationships and attract new customers; 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; changes
in government policy, including policies related to common or
directed clearing and changes as a result of legislation stemming
from the recent financial crisis, including the proposed regulatory
reform of the over-the-counter derivatives and futures market and
any changes in the regulation of our industry with respect to
speculative trading in commodity interests and derivative
contracts; 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 the growth of electronic trading or declines in
subscriptions; 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 members; 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,
including the recent volatility of the capital and credit markets
and the impact of current economic conditions on the trading
activity of our current and potential customers; 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 imposition of a transaction tax on futures
and options on futures transactions; the unfavorable resolution of
material legal proceedings and the seasonality of the futures
business. More detailed information about factors that may affect
our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our most recent periodic reports
filed on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, which are available in the
Investor Relations section of the CME Group Web site. We undertake
no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
CME-G
SOURCE CME Group Inc.