The upstart futures exchange has trumped the Chicago Merc in its bid for the Chicago Board of Trade—and the offer could allay antitrust concernsBarely two months after shaking up the futures-trading world by paying $1 billion to take over the New York Board of Trade, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Sprecher is riling the markets anew with his $9.9 billion stock offer for the Chicago Board of Trade (BOT). The surprise offer, announced Mar. 15, stunned executives at both the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the CBOT, who have been laboring to close their $8 billion merger.
Sprecher's offer, which is expected to trigger a higher counterbid from the CME, is still more evidence of fast-moving consolidation in the stock and futures-exchange worlds. Gains in computerized trading are reshaping bourses, from the New York Stock Exchange (NYX) and Nasdaq (NDAQ) to the Chicago markets themselves, and all of them are vying to draw traders to their increasingly speedy marketplaces. Sprecher, a former race-car driver and chemical engineer, built Atlanta-based ICE just seven years ago by giving energy and commodity traders an all-electronic alternative to the floor trading that had long dominated the field. Traders have flocked to ICE for lower costs and split-second executions.
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