Following the vote of the members of the 12 October 9

At the end of a long and complex discussion process, 816 members of right to the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the venerable firm of market headed by James Newsome, a large majority of more than 91 of voters accepted the proposal of the Board of Directors to proceed, end of 2006, with an introduction on the stock exchange.

The members of the main square of the energy of the planet are expressed in this sense at an extraordinary general meeting held in New York late in the evening of Thursday.

Now, the Nymex may the public placement of part of its capital, on the condition that the stock market situation remains favourable and after obtaining the set of permissions by U.S. regulatory authorities.

Successful precedents

Regulatory documents are already filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) waiting to be examined. Here, on legislation in the United States, no placement of titles cannot take place. Nymex members therefore did not follow the Council of such protest shareholders Cataldo Capuozza inviting them to reject significant portions of the plan of the Directorate of financial services company.

While expressing the favourable to the introduction on the stock market, this opponent critical including assignment, completed on 14 March, 10 of the shares of the Nymex to American General Atlantic Investment Corporation for an amount of $ 160 million. But the lure of substantial gains in the stock market finally convinced the members of the merits of all of the device designed by the Board of Directors.

The brilliantly successful introductions of competing tickets of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) make the envy. The development of the first has multiplied by more than 14 since 2002, while the second has more than tripled since its first rating in November 2005.

The project of demutualization, 816 members of the New York Stock Exchange received 73.4 million shares, 8,16 remaining millions returning to General Atlantic, for a total to date of 81.6 million titles. These titles are already electronically exchangeable between members on the site of the Nymex. The last transaction on October 11 focused on some 5,000 pieces surrendered to unit price 50 and 51 dollars.

Upgrading questions

On this basis, the market is estimated at $ 4,080 billion, or more than two and a half recovery of Nymex in mid-March, calculated on the basis of the transaction with General Atlantic. If, on the other hand, it retains the traditional measure of the last price of Headquarters (5,225 million to October 12), the financial services firm is 4.26 billion, 2.7 times higher than in mid-March.

Following the vote of the members of the 12 October, 9.6 million new shares will be offered to the public through the introduction on the stock exchange plus 4.3 million of additional securities issued pursuant to a long-term incentive plan and reserved for senior officers of the company.

95.5 million shares

Thus, the Nymex will be the total number of shares to 95.5 million, which gives her hope for an initial capitalization of nearly $ 5 billion. As a comparison, more or less direct competitors, the EMC, the ICE and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) are valued today respectively 17.6, 4.7 and 7.05 billion.