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US/EU: ICE in talks CME to create a $75 billion mega-exchange

By  |  May 3, 2017

Intercontinental Exchange held exploratory talks with US rival CME Group last year about a merger that would have created the world’s largest exchanges operator, according to two people involved in the talks.

The two exchanges considered a deal that would have formed a company with a value of more than $70bn, before the talks ended without any agreement, the people said. The talks envisaged Jeff Sprecher of ICE as chief executive and Terry Duffy, his counterpart at the CME, as executive chairman.

Around the same time, ICE also said it was considering making a formal bid for the London Stock Exchange Group and break up the UK company’s agreed deal with Deutsche Börse. However, ICE decided against making a formal offer because of the uncertainty before the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. Some analysts expect ICE to return with another bid for the LSE.

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