The giant US futures exchange and clearing house, CME Group, has made an approach to buy Michel Spencer’s London-listed NEX Group.
NEX confirmed the talks an hour after they were first reported by Bloomberg on Thursday evening.
“Discussions are at an early stage and there can be no certainty that an offer for Nex will be made, nor as to the terms of any offer, if made,” NEX said in a statement.
NEX Group ended the trading day up 2.2 per cent, while CME was trading 1.55 per cent higher in the US.
CME Group, which owns futures exchanges including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange, has a market capitalisation of $55.5bn (£40bn) versus the £2.55bn value of NEX.
NEX was formerly known as ICAP. It’s founder, Mr Spencer sold the company’s interbank voice-broker arm to Tullett Prebon in 2016 in order to concentrate on electronic trading and post-trade services and rebranded itself in the process.
Mr Spencer, a former Conservative Party Treasurer and donor, controls 17 per cent of NEX shares.
Reports suggest CME bid could draw out other exchanges to bid for NEX.
NEX runs cash markets for US Treasury bonds, while CME dominates the futures exchange market for them.
