At a special meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 7, CME shareholders approved the reorganization of CME into a holding company structure by a margin of more than 94 percent of the votes cast. Subsequently, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a favorable tax ruling and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved the necessary rule modifications in certain areas, including CME's board composition and elections, shareholder privileges and voting rights, trading rights and access. Upon completion of the merger, CME shareholders will automatically become shareholders of CME Holdings. The merger will be tax-free to shareholders.
"We are pleased to announce that all conditions to our reorganization have been met so soon after our shareholder vote," said Chairman Scott Gordon.
"We look forward to moving CME forward as a subsidiary of a holding company, which will provide our company with additional business and strategic flexibility," said President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNulty.
A year ago on Nov. 13, CME became a for-profit, shareholder-owned corporation. CME was the first U.S. financial exchange to demutualize by converting its membership interests into shares of common stock that can trade separately from exchange trading privileges.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is an international marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX®2 around-the-clock electronic trading system. CME offers futures contracts and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moves about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments and manages $28.4 billion in collateral deposits.
