Nymex reportedly in sale talks

Top Nymex executives are said to have met with their counterparts at the three potential suitors, according to the report, and the board of Nymex has been informed of the talks.

The news, reported by Bloomberg, prompted Nymex shares to soar $8.72, or 6%, to $148.52 in pre-market trades. The report suggested that Nymex may be valued at $155 a share or $14.3 billion, according to an anonymous source.

Talk of a possible Nymex deal has emerged at a time when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) are battling it out to acquire the Chicago Board of Trade (Cbot). ICE, the biggest competitor to Nymex in the trading of benchmark oil and fuel contracts, also completed a $1.8 billion purchase of the New York Board of Trade in January, which trades sugar and cocoa futures.

Currently Nymex does not have its own electronic trading platform, instead trading key contracts such as the WTI oil futures contract trade electronically on the CME’s Globex platform.