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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

BGC bids $675 million for rival GFI Group, topping CME offer, (NASDAQ: BGCP), (NASDAQ: CME), (NYSE: GFIG)

Interdealer broker BGC Partners Inc launched a $675 million hostile bid for rival GFI Group Inc on Tuesday, topping an agreed offer from exchange operator CME Group Inc.The bidding war sent shares of New York-based GFI up more than 14.5 percent to a four-year high of $5.76 amid expectations that CME will sweeten its offer. BGC shares touched a three-week high, while CME's stock reached a two-week low.BGC, which already owns about 13.5 percent of GFI, said its proposed cash offer of $5.25 per share was more than 15 percent above CME's $4.55 per share all-stock bid in July.CME, the world's largest futures market operator, pursued GFI to expand its reach in the European energy and global foreign exchange markets and can easily finance a counter offer, said Michael Wong, equity analyst for Morningstar in Chicago.

BGC Partners, Inc. (BGC) is a global brokerage company primarily servicing the wholesale financial markets, specializing in the brokering of a range of products, including fixed income securities, interest rate swaps, foreign exchange, equities, equity derivatives, credit derivatives, commercial real estate, property derivatives, commodities, futures and structured products. Shares of BGCP traded higher by 3.71% or $0.275/share to $7.68. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $5.10 and as high as $8.01. On average, 1133030 shares of BGCP exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1705799.

CME Group Inc. (CME Group) offer a range of global products across all asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. Shares of CME fell by 0.34% or $-0.255/share to $75.68. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $66.44 and as high as $84.71. On average, 1353010 shares of CME exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 683369.

GFI Group Inc. (GFI) is a provider of wholesale brokerage services, clearing services and electronic execution and trading support products for global financial markets. Shares of GFIG traded higher by 12.72% or $0.64/share to $5.67. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $2.98 and as high as $5.04. On average, 914697 shares of GFIG exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3047351.



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