The International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) board is considering ways of ditching the requirement for a transition to electronic trading so that disgruntled members could finally receive payments for the 2001 take-over by IntercontinentalExchange (ICE).
The terms of the takeover deal state that the second, or b-share, payment for IPE is conditional on the transition being made. However, resistance from the floor has contributed to continued low volumes on IPE's electronic trading platform, and this combined with the continued possibility of a hostile takeover bid from New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) has forced IPE to think again.
An IPE board meeting was scheduled for Friday 27 February, with a...