EXCHANGE NEWSWIRE, 15 June 2012
LME chose HKEx’s bid instead of rival bids from ICE, CME or NYX, the Financial Times reported. HKEx has offered to buy LME for GBP 1.388b (USD 2.2b) in cash, and the transaction is expected to be closed in 4Q12. HKEx also promised to increase Chinese participation in LME, as well as to assist the metals exchange to register warehouses in China. It also said that it would not raise fees on LME until 2015.
HKEx confirmed its commitment to keeping its current dividend policy even after the acquisition of LME has been completed. HKEx CEO Charles Li was quoted in Reuters saying that “our dividend policy remains unchanged. Shareholders want to know if we can afford the deal. Yes we can afford it.”
CME and McGraw-Hill Companies announced that they have received notification that the US Department of Justice has completed its review of the proposed JV company, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and early termination of the statutory waiting period has been granted. The JV remains subject to other customary closing conditions, and is targeted to be completed by end-June.
CME signed an agreement with MF Global trustee James Giddens, in which CME is expected to turn over $130m in property that will go to former MF customers. The amount will be divided between US based and overseas accounts, with an additional $16.5m in property to be held by CME to cover any claims against the trustee. An additional $28.5m will go to the judge overseeing the case in order to be later re-allocated, the WSJ reported.
NDAQ is expected to be blamed by Facebook for its botched IPO when Facebook files a motion consolidating all shareholder lawsuits against it. Reuters also reported that the motion, which could be filed as early as Friday, will shed some light on NDAQ’s role on listing day and the impact of the exchange’s action on the stock’s trading activity.
NDAQ will be absent from the US House market structure hearing on June 20, citing pending litigation against NDAQ regarding the Facebook IPO, which is expected to take center stage at the hearing. NYX and Direct Edge heads are to testify at the hearing, according to a US House Representatives aide, Reuters quoted.
Alpha Group aims to be the Nasdaq of the North through offering small technology companies access to a larger pool of public funding. Alpha CEO Jos Schmitt said the changes would allow maturing tech companies an option other than TMX exchanges. Alpha would also feature listing fees as much as 50% lower than those on TMX exchanges, according to Reuters.
Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx) sent a statement in response to HKEx’s proposed acquisition of LME, saying that “the proposed LME acquisition by HKEx further reinforces our strategy of building linkages between international metal futures markets and China.” It also stated that the acquisition “does not in any way change our development plans. Intergration of the two entities will take considerable time”, and HKMEx will “roll out our products in base and precious metals as planned, as well as continue to build our membership base and deepen market liquidity.”
Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) will finalize its amendments to MiFID II by July 10, setting out its stance on key trading and market structure issues. MEP Markus Ferber, who proposed re-categorizing broker crossing networks (BCNs) as MTFs or systematic internalisers, is responsible for leading ECON’s review of MiFID, the Trade News reported. Ferber’s other proposals included banning direct electronic access to markets, minimizing the amount of OTC equity trading, and also a definition of when a trading strategy could be defined as HFT.
Euroclear central securities depositories (CSDs) of Belgium, France and the Netherlands agreed to sign up to the TARGET2-Securities (T2S) framework agreement, according to the Trade News. The project, which was launched by the Eurosystem and is aimed at providing a common technical platform for securities settlement in Europe, is expected to begin in 2015.
