Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) was last week reported to be interested in making a competing bid for a 10% stake in New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), despite the prior agreement between Nymex and private equity firm General Atlantic (GA) (see FO Week Vol 10 No 46).
Market speculation suggested that the potential bid could be as high as $200m, topping the $135m investment agreed with GA. Discussions were said to be only in preliminary internal stages with a formal bid expected within a few days.
Despite the size of the bid, sources told FO Week that Nymex could well be unwilling to unwind the amount of work that had gone into finalising the GA bid, although member dissatisfaction at the previous valuation could have...