Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) made history as the first US exchange to go public, a move that was broadly welcomed by the market. The IPO is being managed by Morgan Stanley and UBS Warburg. It will sell 4,751,070 shares, which amounts to approximately 14% of the total out-standing shares, with each share priced at between $31 and $34.

Meanwhile, as FOW went to press, progress seemed to have been made in the merger talks between London Clearing House and Clearnet. No firm plans were announced but LCH's ceo, David Hardy, emphasised the importance of taking the time to get a complicated job done well.

Rumours

The rumour mill surrounding Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) cranked up another notch at the end of 2002. Concerns were voiced that ICE has lost its dynamism post-Enron. In addition, IPE  members were also concerned about the "opaque nature" of ICE's performance and a number stated that they saw little current benefit from the relationship. One thing is for certain, a storm is brewing (see FOW February 2003, for more on OTC energy clearing).

Traders were also concerned about Euronext Liffe's decision to restrict bandwidth usage in its equity options market. In addition, the exchange announced a new market maker scheme ahead of this year's migration of the Dutch options market onto the Connect platform.

At the end of 2001, Taiwan Futures Exchange and Korea Futures Exchange signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop joint business opportunities. The move came hot on the heels of Kofex's MOU with CME last  October. .