(Bloomberg) — Two senior executives atNYSELiffe, Fraser Cowie and Ian Dudden, plan to leave the derivatives market after IntercontinentalExchange Inc. finishes buying its owner,NYSEEuronext, according to three people familiar with the situation.
Cowie is the executive director for strategic alliances at London-basedNYSELiffe, while Dudden is head of commodity derivatives. More executives will probably leave once the acquisition closes, according to the people, who asked to not be identified because the negotiations are still in progress.
[See Traders Magazine ICE/NYSE Coverage]
Past takeovers by ICE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Sprecher, who already employs London-based derivatives executives, have prompted makeovers at the acquired companies. After buying the New York Board of Trade and International Petroleum Exchange, Sprecher shut their trading floors and moved them to all-electronic platforms.
Sprecher is creating one of the worlds largest exchange operators by purchasingNYSEEuronext, adding Liffes financial futures and the New York Stock Exchange to his Atlanta-based companys existing focus on energy derivatives.
Shares of ICE climbed 1.1 percent yesterday, extending their 2013 gain to 56 percent and giving the company a $14 billion market value.NYSEEuronext, valued at $10.7 billion, advanced 40 percent since Dec. 31 through yesterday. CME Group Inc., the owner of the worlds largest futures market, is the biggest exchange operator by market value at $24.8 billion.
Deal Delay
ICE postponed the closing date for the transaction this week, saying the Nov. 4 goal wont be met because some regulatory approvals are pending.NYSEEuronext Chief Financial Officer Michael Geltzeiler already publicly announced he will join ADT Corp. once the deal is complete. The departure ofNYSELiffes co-CEO, Mark Ibbotson, was revealed in August.
NYSELiffe CEO Finbarr Hutcheson is negotiating to remain with the company and turn his focus to reforming the London InterBank Offered Rate, according to the three people familiar with the matter.NYSEEuronext, whose Liffe exchange is the biggest market for short-term interest-rate derivatives, vowed in July to restore confidence in the London benchmark thats at the heart of the financial worlds biggest scandal.
Liffe said July 9 that it will replace the British Bankers Association in administering Libor following a rigging investigation that has generated billions of dollars in fines.
Dudden, Cowie and Hutcheson declined to comment, as did Adaora Anunoby, a spokeswoman for Liffe, and ICEs Claire Miller.
