Fusion Corporate Partners

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-323
 
Acquirer:  CME Group
ACQ Web:  http://www.cmegroup.com
Location:  USA, Chicargo, IL
Region:  North America
Description:  CME Group is an equity index derivatives marketplace, offering futures and options on key benchmark indexes that cover the spectrum of small-, medium- and large-cap indexes in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including the DJIA as well as the S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Nikkei 225 Stock Average, MSCI EAFE, FTSE/Xinhua China 25.
Category:  Finance, Derivatives
Contact 1:  Terry Duffy, CME Group Executive Chairman
Contact 2:  Craig Donohue, CME Group Chief Executive Officer  
 
Vendor:  News Corporation
Vendor Web:  http://www.newscorp.com 
Location:  USA, New York, NY
Region:  North America
Business Sold: A controlling stake in Dow Jones Indexes
Description:  Dow Jones & Company is a News Corporation company (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) and a leading provider of global news and business information. Its principal products include The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Factiva, Barron’s, MarketWatch and Dow Jones Indexes. Its Local Media Group operates community-based newspapers and Web sites. Dow Jones also provides news content to television and radio stations.
Category: Finance, media owner
Contact 1:  Les Hinton, chief executive officer of Dow Jones

Details:  

CME Group and Dow Jones have signed a definitive agreement in which CME Group will take a 90 percent ownership interest and Dow Jones will take a 10 percent ownership interest in a new joint venture that will own the Dow Jones Indexes.

Dow Jones will contribute the Dow Jones Indexes business, valued at $675 million, to the joint venture.  CME Group will contribute certain market data services, valued at $607.5 million, to the joint venture.  The venture also will raise approximately $613 million in third-party debt which will be used to pay a $607.5 million distribution to Dow Jones.

Terms of the agreement provide for the joint venture to license the Dow Jones name for the new index services business on a long-term basis.  Ownership of the Dow Jones brand, including trademarked names, will remain with Dow Jones.  The managing editor of The Wall Street Journal will continue to participate in decisions regarding constituent stock selection for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other index products.

The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2010.
 
Links: 

• News Corporation Announcement
• CME Group Announcement
   
   
  Advisors: Barclays Capital is acting as financial advisor to CME Group, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as CME Group’s legal advisor