Nymex Investors Okay Acquisition Of CME Group

Nymex Holdings Inc. shareholders approved CME Group Inc.'s takeover, completing a transaction that may stem CME Group's 51% slide on the New York Stock Exchange this year.

A majority of CME and Nymex investors voted for the deal yesterday in New York and Chicago, the companies said in a news release. The transaction cements CME Group's status as the world's largest derivatives market.

The chief executive officer of the CME Group, Craig Donohue, and the chairman, Terry Duffy, met with shareholders in the past two weeks to shore up support after some Nymex members said they would reject the offer. Mr. Donohue, 42, had sweetened the exchange's offer twice, and last week two chief opponents dropped their complaints.

"In the exchange landscape of the future, there will be three to four big companies, global with different types of products," a senior executive in the capital markets group at consulting firm Accenture, Michael Henry, said. "CME wants to be one of those companies. It's defending it's home turf by acquiring U.S.-based derivatives exchanges, but it still needs to make that move and show that it can act globally."

The deal is expected to close August 22.