Kent Horsager, president and CEO of MGEX said, “The wide margin of approval indicates MGEX membership is bullish on our exchange’s investment in electronic trading. After an exhaustive search, the MGEX board of directors determined that UNIVITS is the optimal technology partner for our exchange based on their track record.”
UNIVITS develops solutions for electronic exchanges and marketplaces for commodities, currencies and financial instruments. The platform UNIVITS will develop for MGEX will be accessible via Internet, dedicated lines or wireless devices and will feature an open architecture allowing firms to interface with the system via their proprietary front-end systems.
UNIVITS’ technology currently powers Internet-based electronic marketplaces in the Scandinavian Money Market (iFOX), an electronic equities market in Stockholm (Nordic Growth Market) and, launching imminently, a virtual electronic marketplace trading OTC power in the Nordic and European Energy Markets (powerITS).
Trevor Cass, chief executive officer of UNIVITS said, “We are delighted that in closing this deal the MGEX has chosen to endorse UNIVITS' technology and expertise. We look forward to sharing in their success and believe that this will be the first step in a developing and rewarding relationship.”
MGEX will develop new products to trade electronically in both regulated and non-regulated marketplaces and across asset classes. The decision to transfer existing MGEX futures and options contracts, including hard spring wheat, to the electronic platform will be left to the MGEX board of directors and will require membership approval, according to Horsager.
John Miller, chairman of the MGEX board of directors and president and CEO of Miller Milling Company said, “We are in the process of developing mutually beneficial relationships with industry partners to identify unique risk management products. The next 12 months will be exciting ones for the Minneapolis Grain Exchange.”
MGEX officials estimate the new electronic trading platform will be operational the third quarter of this year.
The Minneapolis Grain Exchange, established in 1881, is the only futures market for hard red spring wheat, white wheat, durum wheat, cottonseed, Twin Cities on- and off-peak electricity, black tiger shrimp and white shrimp. For more information on the Exchange, visit www.mgex.com.
