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IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), the leading electronic energy marketplace and soft commodity exchange, announced that it has entered into an amended definitive agreement to acquire the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE), the leading agricultural commodity futures and options exchange in Canada and home to the world's leading canola futures contract. WCE Holdings Inc. owns the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Inc., the WCE Clearing Corporation, the Canadian Climate Exchange Inc. and the WCE Industry Services Corporation.
The purchase price for the transaction is $77.59 (Canadian dollars) per common share or $50 million Canadian in the aggregate. The transaction is proceeding by way of plan of arrangement and is subject to approval of WCE shareholders, approval of the Manitoba Securities Commission, which serves as the exchange's primary regulator, and other conditions which are customary in transactions of this nature. Upon the close of the transaction, WCE will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICE. ICE expects to close the transaction in the third quarter of 2007.
About IntercontinentalExchange
IntercontinentalExchange(R) (NYSE: ICE) operates global commodity and
financial products marketplaces, including the world's leading electronic
energy markets and soft commodity exchange. ICE's diverse futures and over-
the-counter (OTC) markets offer access to contracts based on crude oil and
refined products, natural gas, power and emissions, as well as agricultural
commodities including cocoa, coffee, cotton, ethanol, orange juice, wood pulp
and sugar, in addition to foreign currency and equity index futures and
options. ICE(R) conducts its energy futures markets through ICE Futures, its
U.K. regulated London-based subsidiary, which offers the world's leading oil
benchmarks and trades nearly half of the world's global crude futures in its
markets. ICE conducts its soft commodity, foreign exchange and index markets
through its U.S. regulated subsidiary, the New York Board of Trade(R).
NYBOT(R) provides global futures and options markets, as well as clearing
services through ICE Clear US(sm), its wholly-owned clearing house. ICE's
state-of-the-art electronic trading platform brings market access and
transparency to participants in more than 50 countries. ICE was added to the
Russell 1000(R) Index in June 2006. Headquartered in Atlanta, ICE also has
offices in Calgary, Chicago, Dublin, Houston, London, New York and Singapore.
For more information, please visit www.theice.com.
