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Well, not exactly...but the CME and CBOT are merging:

The combined company will be named CME Group Inc., and will be headquartered in Chicago (no duh). The news sent CBOT shares soaring $21.50, or 16 percent, to $156.01 in premarket trading on the INET, indicating the stock may open above its 52-week high of $140.67. CME shares rose $17.75, or 3.5 percent, to $521 in early electronic activity.

CBOT stockholders will have the right to receive 0.3006 shares of CME common stock for each CBOT share, or cash equal to the value of the exchange ratio based on a 10-day average of closing prices of CME common stock at the time of the merger.

The cash portion of the purchase price won't exceed $3 billion. If no shareholders elect to receive cash, shareholders of CME will own 69 percent of the merged company and CBOT holders will own 31 percent, with CME issuing about 15.9 million shares valued at about $8 billion.

Posted by edelfenbein at October 17, 2006 9:50 AM