The UK based financial technology company, NEX Group issued a press release late on Thursday confirming of receiving a preliminary bid by US rival, CME Group Inc, the operator of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange regarding a possible acquisition.
The statements were issued by the group after Bloomberg News first reported about the developments adding that NEX Group can also attract bids from other rivals exchange operators. Clarifying the news, NEX Group said that the talks were still in initial stages and there is no certainty that the offer made will be accepted.
The press release reads: “Discussions are at an early stage and there can be no certainty that an offer for NEX will be made, nor as to the terms of any offer, if made.”
Following the outbreak of the news, the shares of the group went up by 2 percent in late Thursday trading. The NEX Group’s current share price is around £6.70 and has a total market capitalization of £2.55 billion or $3.5 billion. Formerly known as ICAP, it rebranded itself as NEX Group after TullettPrebon acquired its brokerage business for £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2016. to entirely focus on electronic trading and financial technology.
Acquiring NEX will allow CME to strengthen its presence in the UK market and further expand its reach into the NEX’s cash market that supports some of its future contracts. If the deal is completed, then it would be one of the biggest exchange deals in recent years after Cboe’s holding $3.4 billion acquisition of Bats Global Markets Inc in 2017. NEX Group owns the biggest electronic trading platform for the US treasury bonds and CME dominates the interest-rate futures market.
The Chicago-based CME Group is a $56 billion global-exchange operator that has grown by taking over rivals like Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange.
