Owners of the Chicago and New York commodities exchanges are in preliminary talks that could end in an $11 billion merger of the two largest commodities markets in the US, reports the New York Times. NYMEX Holdings shareholders would receive $36 and 0.1323 of a share of CME's common stock in exchange for each NYMEX share.
The talks come on the heels of the July $11.7 billion union of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade that created CME. Financial exchanges have been consolidating—to the tune of $53 billion in mergers since 2006—to broaden offerings and cut operating costs. CME is looking to NYMEX for its energy and metals trading presence. (More CME Group stories.)