CME Group, the world's largest and most diverse exchange, issued the following statement in response to Chicago Board Options Exchange's (CBOE) "rule interpretation" terminating exerciser rights and creating a temporary trading permit program:
"CME Group is committed to vigorously defending the rights of
CBOT B-1 members in the Delaware litigation against CBOE. The
action brought in Delaware by CBOT and two individuals who
represent the class of persons with exercise rights seeks to
preserve all of the exercise rights granted to CBOT members by
the CBOE Charter and the 1992 Agreement between CBOT and CBOE.
CME Group is supporting CBOT's and the class representatives'
prosecution of this litigation to secure the rights of
exercise rights holders to an equal distribution in the CBOE
demutualization.
On Friday, July 20, CBOT and the class representatives filed a
motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). The TRO seeks
to prevent CBOE from terminating the exerciser rights while
that very issue is under consideration by the court. The
motion asks the court to prevent CBOE from implementing its
"rule interpretation" pursuant to which CBOE has locked out
certain CBOT exercisers and has unilaterally decided the very
issue that has been submitted to the Delaware court. Today,
following a conference with the parties' attorneys, the court
set the motion for hearing on July 31, 2007.
CME Group and CBOT continue to believe that the merger of CBOT
Holdings and CME Holdings Inc. did not impair the exercise
rights of CBOT B-1 members under the terms of the 1992
Agreement and the CBOE Charter. CBOT continues to exist as a
member-based exchange following the merger and CBOT full
members continue to have full trading rights in respect to all
of the products and contracts listed by the CBOT. We will
continue to work to preserve the rights of CBOT members to
become or remain exerciser members of the CBOE pursuant to the
exercise right and to share equally in any CBOE
demutualization."
CME Group (http://www.cmegroup.com/) is the world's largest and most diverse 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, energy, and alternative investment products such as weather and real estate. CME Group is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and 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. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group and its products can be found at http://www.cmegroup.com/.
CME-G
SOURCE: CME Group
