Major Shareholder to Vote Against CME Bid for CBOT -- Reuters

Australian fund manager Caledonia Investments, a 6.5% shareholder of CBOT Holdings, said it would vote against Chicago Mercantile Holdings's revised $10.5 billion bid for CBOT, according to Reuters. "We are not commenting on whom we agree with. At the moment what the CME has bid isn't attractive to us," said Caledonia Managing Director William Vicars in an interview. Vicars disagreed with the fund's reputation as an activist shareholder. He said price (not management) is the issue in the CBOT/CME deal. CBOT's members and shareholders are scheduled to vote on CME's bid July 9th. CBOT's Board of Directors said in a statement Tuesday that IntercontinentalExchange Inc.'s revised bid is not superior to CME's: "Nothing important has changed from the offer ICE submitted on June 12th. ICE has not resolved the significant risks identified during the comprehensive due diligence we conducted of ICE and its trading and clearing systems." Shares of CBOT were down slightly on Tuesday to $204.25, while CME rose 1.3% to $539.35 and ICE was unchanged at $148.88.

Sources: Press release, Reuters, RTTNews
Commentary: ICE-CME Exchange Wars: A Mexican Standoff? • ICE-CME Exchange Wars Redux • CME, ICE Bids for CBOT Expected to Enter Round 3 -- Bloomberg
Stocks/ETFs to watch: CBOT Holdings, Inc. (BOT), Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (CME), IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (ICE). Competitors: NYSE Euronext (NYX), NYMEX Holdings Inc. (NMX), International Securities Exchange Inc. (ISE)

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