Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: CME) today announced that it is postponing its Special Meeting of Shareholders originally scheduled for April 4, 2007, to vote on the definitive merger agreement with CBOT Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BOT). CME has elected to reschedule the meeting in light of CBOT's review of the unsolicited merger proposal submitted by IntercontinentalExchange. CME and CBOT are determining a new date for their meetings and CME will inform shareholders as promptly as possible regarding the new date for the CME shareholders meeting.
"We are confident that our definitive merger agreement with CBOT is based on a vastly superior strategic rationale and will offer significantly more lasting and sustainable value to the shareholders, customers and members of both exchanges," said CME Executive Chairman Terry Duffy. "We have already demonstrated the ability to capture efficiencies with CBOT through our historic 2003 common clearing agreement and, more recently, our accelerated plans to integrate our trading floors and electronic trading platforms. We look forward to putting the vote before our shareholders and completing our merger by mid-2007."
"We believe that a thorough review and comparison of our deal and ICE's proposal will demonstrate that a CBOT/CME merger is financially, strategically and operationally superior," said CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue. "Furthermore, we are confident that our integration with CBOT will not carry the execution risks associated with ICE's proposal. In addition to our consistent performance and financial strength, CME offers industry leading clearing, a vibrant trading floor, state-of-the-art technology, global distribution of benchmark products across all asset classes, and a history of product innovation, not to mention a four-plus year track record of creating shareholder value."
