CME and CBOT Announce New Timelines for Electronic and Floor Trading Migrations Post Merger Close
March 14 2007 - 10:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
CHICAGO, March 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Following the October
17, 2006, announcement of their proposed merger to create the most
extensive and diverse global derivatives exchange, Chicago
Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE:CMENASDAQ:CME) and CBOT
Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BOT) today announced new proposed timelines
for electronic migration to CME Globex(R) and trading floor
consolidation. Upon completion of the merger, which is expected to
close by mid-year 2007 pending approvals by regulators, the
shareholders of both companies and CBOT members, the companies plan
to migrate electronically traded CBOT products onto the CME Globex
platform in a phased migration, beginning in first quarter of 2008.
Previously, this integration was planned to take place one year
following close. Additionally, CME and CBOT open outcry markets
will be migrated onto a single trading floor facility located at
CBOT in the second quarter of 2008. The floor consolidation was
initially expected to happen 12 to 18 months following close. "The
goal of the proposed merger is to deliver significant efficiencies
along with new products and technologies as quickly as possible to
our global customer base," said CME Executive Chairman Terry Duffy.
"Both parties are committed to developing this aggressive migration
timeline post close so that our customers will be able to realize
the benefits of our combined company sooner -- not only cost
savings but also expanded opportunities by placing complementary
products on a consolidated electronic trading platform and trading
floor." "Both organizations are working very hard to ensure that
CME Group will be in a position to deliver at least $125 million in
annual expense synergies as soon as possible after the close of our
historic merger," said CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue.
"Our valued customers, who will also realize annual savings of
approximately $70 million, will benefit greatly from our
accelerated integration timeframe." "Growth in the global
derivatives industry continues to accelerate with competition
spanning the exchange and over the counter markets," said CBOT
Chairman Charlie Carey. "The combination of our leading
institutions allows us to capitalize on our synergies, in both the
electronic markets and on the trading floors, and we will be better
positioned to compete in order to continue our traditions of
innovation and leadership." Targeting a mid-year close, the
companies have achieved significant milestones in recent weeks,
including the setting of the date of the CME and CBOT shareholder
meetings and CBOT member meetings to vote on the transaction on
April 4, 2007, and the mailing of the final prospectus/joint proxy
statements. Important Merger Information In connection with the
merger transaction involving Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings
Inc. (CME Holdings) and CBOT Holdings, Inc. (CBOT Holdings), CME
Holdings has filed a registration statement on Form S-4 with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on December 21, 2006,
containing a preliminary joint proxy statement/prospectus. The
registration statement was declared effective on February 26, 2007.
This material is not a substitute for the final prospectus/proxy
statement or any other documents the parties will file with the
SEC. 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 will be,
and other documents filed or to be filed by CME Holdings with the
SEC are or will be available free of charge at the SEC's Web site (
http://www.sec.gov/ ) or from Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings
Inc., Shareholder Relations and Membership Services, 20 South
Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606, Attention: Beth Hausoul. CME
Holdings and its directors, executive officers and other employees
may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in
connection with the proposed transaction. Information about CME
Holdings' directors and executive officers is available in CME
Holdings' proxy statement, dated March 10, 2006, for its 2006
annual meeting of stockholders. Additional information about the
interests of potential participants will be included in the
prospectus/proxy statement when it becomes available. This document
shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an
offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of
securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or
sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under
the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of
securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting
the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933,
as amended. About CME Holdings CME Holdings (NYSE:CMENASDAQ:CME)
became the first publicly traded U.S. financial exchange on Dec. 6,
2002. The company was added to the Russell 1000(R) Index on July 1,
2003, and to the S&P 500(R) Index on Aug. 10, 2006. It is the
parent company of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., the world's
largest and most diverse financial exchange. As an international
marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on the CME
Globex(R) electronic trading platform and on its trading floors.
CME offers futures and options on futures in these product areas:
interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural
commodities, energy, and alternative investment products such as
weather, real estate and economic derivatives. CME is a wholly
owned subsidiary of CME Holdings. About the CBOT As one of the
leading global derivative exchanges, the Chicago Board of Trade
provides a diverse mix of financial, equity, and commodity futures
and options-on-futures products. Building on its 158-year history,
the CBOT continues to advance into the future using the strength of
deep liquidity, market integrity and member-trader expertise. Using
superior trading technology in both electronic and open-auction
trading platforms, the CBOT provides premier customer service to
risk managers and investors worldwide. For more information visit
our website at http://www.cbot.com/ . Forward-Looking Statements
From time to time, in written reports and oral statements, we
discuss our expectations regarding future performance.
Forward-looking statements in this report are based on currently
available competitive, financial, and economic data; current
expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about the
industries in which we operate; and management's beliefs and
assumptions. 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. We want to caution you to not place
undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Among the factors
that might affect our performance are: our ability to obtain the
required approvals for our proposed merger with CBOT Holdings, Inc.
and our ability to realize the anticipated benefits, control the
costs of the proposed transaction and successfully integrate the
businesses; increasing competition from foreign and domestic
competitors, including increased competition from new entrants into
our markets; 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 provided to third parties; our ability to
maintain existing customers 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; 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; 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
nonmember fees or participates in one of our various incentive
programs) and the impact of our tiered pricing structures; the
ability of our financial safeguards package to adequately protect
us from the credit risk of our clearing firms and the clearing
firms of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc.; 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; 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; industry and customer consolidation; decreases in trading
and clearing activity; the imposition of a transaction tax on
futures and options on futures transactions; and 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
Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is available in the Investor
Relations section of our 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 DATASOURCE:
CME; CBOT CONTACT: Media, Allan Schoenberg, +1-312-930-8189, or
mobile, +1-312-907-1641, Laurie Bischel, +1-312-648-8698, or
Investors, John Peschier, +1-312-930-8491, all of CME, or Media,
Maria C. Gemskie, +1-312-341-3257, or Investors, Deborah Koopman,
+1-312-789-8532, both of CBOT Web site: http://www.cbot.com/
http://www.cme.com/
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