Source: Nymex
Nymex Holdings (NYSE:NMX), the parent company of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world's largest physical commodities futures and options exchange, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire 15.1% of leading Norwegian financial derivatives exchange IMAREX ASA (Oslo: IMAREX) from Frontline Ltd. for approximately $52 million.
IMAREX, headquartered in Oslo, operates a hybrid model of electronic trading and voice brokerage and offers research, transaction and settlement services for financial derivatives based on oceangoing freight, airborne emissions, farmed salmon, electric power and heavy fuel oil.
IMAREX is the world's only regulated market for trading of freight derivatives. The Group's exchange and clearing house are licensed by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance and regulated by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway. Across the group, customers include the world's leading banks, oil majors, power generators, ship owners, charterers, commodity trading houses and hedge funds. IMAREX has subsidiaries in Norway, Houston, Singapore, Zurich and London.
NYMEX Chairman Richard Schaeffer said, "This investment and partnership in one of Europe's leading derivatives exchanges advances our strategic goal to expand our product distribution and clearing into the European market. The IMAREX shipping derivatives trading and clearing business is a powerful platform for NYMEX to expand and develop new products for the European and global energy markets, and complements our energy market products. We are strong believers in the IMAREX business model, including their wholly-owned clearinghouse and brokerage business."