ICE closes another deal
ICE entered a definitive agreement to acquire the commodity trading business of ChemConnect Inc., an electronic marketplace for the $150 billion U.S. natural gas liquids (NGL) and chemicals markets. ChemConnect’s product offering includes propane, ethane, ethylene, propylene and benzene.
ChemConnect will transition its electronic markets to the ICE electronic trading platform.
In other news, ICE subsidiary Nybot is now a “Recognized Overseas Investment Exchange,” as per the Financial Services Authority of the United Kingdom. This will allow Nybot to expand access to electronic trading in the United Kingdom.
CME London Clearing a Go
The CME has been given the green light to extend its clearing services to London, where it will be able to clear OTC derivatives transactions and its FXMarketSpace products.
That brings the exchange into direct competition with EDX, the London-based derivatives trading and clearing platform run jointly by OMX and the London Stock Exchange.
Foreign Ownership Stalemate
Western exchanges and banks have been scrambling for a piece of India, but now the Reserve Bank of India says it’s officially opposed to giving non-Indian firms too much of a stake in domestic commodity brokers. The announcement signals continued nervousness over the trading of foodstuff commodities. While new futures on agriculture food products have essentially been banned in the country, new contracts on non-food commodities continue to be listed without incident.
TSE Signals Buying Binge
Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) boss Atsushi Saito says the TSE might float shares by the end of next year – a few months earlier than expected – and it’s no coincidence that he's hired three banks known for their mergers-and-acquisitions expertise to handle the deal. Thanks to backing (some would say 'pressure') from the government, he's expected to oversee a merger of Tokyo's commodities exchanges into the TSE either before or concurrent with the initial public offering.
Sour crude: The new black
On opening day, the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, a joint venture between
the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (Nymex), Tatweer, a member of
Dubai Holdings and the Oman Investment Fund (OIF), traded more than 2,800 physically settled Oman crude oil futures.
Fimat Japan
In May Fimat signed a final asset purchase agreement with Japanese commodity broker Himawari CX. To host its Japanese commodities business Fimat has established Fimat Japan Inc. As part of the agreement, once regulatory approvals are obtained, Himawari’s memberships on the Tocom, Tokyo Grain Exchange (TGE) and Central Commodity Exchange (C-COM) will be transferred to Fimat Japan.
