The battle for Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT) shareholder approval has further intensified as Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) executives sent out a letter to CBoT shareholders and met with them to urge a “no” vote on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) bid. The letter coincided with fresh speculation that ICE could look towards licensing Liffe Connect in a last ditch effort to win added support for its cause.The memo was augmented by the news that Caledonia Partners, a private equity fund based in Sydney that holds about 7% of CBoT shares, also submitted a “no” vote on the CME offer.Meanwhile, CME passed a deadline by which it could have decided to increase its bid for CBoT without changing the 9 July Board of Trade shareholder voting day. CME can still change its offer for CBoT, but that would postpone the 9 July vote. Individual shareholders appear more united in rejecting the...