The recent flurry of Chicago Board Option Exchange (CBOE) seat sales has been mostly driven by three speculators with an eye on a windfall if the exchange decides to float.
Since January, CBOE seat prices have risen 77% to $1.55m with 95 seats changing hands. Over the past month Caledonia, Caldwell and Susquehanna Group have all led the way in terms of purchasing seats and sending pries to record highs.
In CBOE seat sale documents obtained by FO Week, the most active firm has been Caledonia, a privately held passive investment firm based in Sydney, which purchased 17 CBOE seats in October for a combined $22.52m. Caledonia grabbed 12 of those seats in a string of sales from Pershing, a subsidiary of Bank of New York for just over $1.3m per seat.
An extremely private firm, Caledonia has taken equity stakes in a number of exchanges...