INTERCONTINENTALEXCHANGE, INC./CBOT HOLDINGS, INC.
Filed by IntercontinentalExchange, Inc.
Pursuant to Rule 425 under the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and
deemed filed pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
Subject Company:
CBOT Holdings, Inc.
(Commission File No. 001- 32650)
Preliminary Transcript
Thomson StreetEventssm 4 4 4
Conference Call Transcript
ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
Event Date/Time: Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET
PRESENTATION
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the conference call hosted by Intercontinental
Exchange to discuss the progress and its proposed combination with the Chicago Board of Trade. I
would now like to turn the presentation over to your host for todays call, Ms. Kelly Loeffler,
Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Please proceed.
Kelly Loeffler
Good morning. To obtain a copy of todays press release and presentation regarding ICEs proposal
to merge with the Chicago Board of Trade, please visit the investor resources section of our Web
site at BICE.com. Our call and presentation will be archived and available for replay. Before we
begin, please be aware that our comments may contain forward-looking statements. These statements
represent our current judgment and are subject to various risks, assumptions, and uncertainties as
outlined in the companys filings with SEC. Actual results may differ materially from those that
are expressed or anticipated in any forward-looking statements. Following our prepared remarks, we
will be glad to take questions from the audience on the telephone. Given the short time we have
before the market opens, I would ask that you limit yourself to one question
and one follow-up. Also, we are not going to be able to answer any questions about or comment on
the status of discussions with CBOT. I will now turn the call over to Jeff Sprecher, ICEs Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
1 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
Jeff Sprecher
Good morning and thank you for joining us. We appreciate your interest in learning more about the
superior proposal we submitted to the Chicago Board of Trades Board of Directors on March 15. Much
has been said about our company, ICE, over the past week, some of which has been extremely
misleading and disingenuous. To ensure these statements are corrected, we have a desire and duty to
set the record straight. The ICE proposal is strong and carefully-considered. It offers greater
near-term and longer-term participation in the value of CBOT shares. It empowers shareholders and
members to have a voice in their destiny and that of an important exchange, whos 160-year
existence is threatened and it ensures innovation and competition continue to serve as growth
drivers in our exciting industry for years to come. We believe once you know the facts about ICE
and learn more about our proposal, youll understand why ICE has become a global leader in just
seven years. Just six weeks ago, we were on a similar call with our shareholders discussing our
industry-leading earnings results for the fourth quarter of 2006, which resulted in ICE being the
best-performing stock during 2006 in any sector across all market caps. Today, we are busy pursuing
a number of opportunities to bring continued growth, shareholder value, and performance for our
customers. This transaction will help advance these goals and offers benefits to the members and
shareholders of the Chicago Board of Trade in a way that no other merger partner can. We recognize
the sophistication of our respective shareholders and members. Having acquired three exchange
businesses in my time at ICE, I believe I know the community well. You deserve straight talk,
accurate information, and a right to evaluation that reflects the reality of the business today. We
have complete confidence in our offer and the capabilities of our global business, and at no time
in this process do we wish to take up your time with incomplete or inaccurate data, misinformation,
or speeches that claim to educate you about your business. More importantly, we have put a superior
offer before you. So Ill cut to the chase. The topics that Im here to address this morning are
the strength of our company, our technology, our capabilities, and our proposed merger synergies.
Before I address those issues, I would like to clarify a few key points. First, we would like to
begin a dialogue with CBOT members as soon as possible. We deferred the meeting originally
scheduled for last week as a result of CBOTs willingness to begin discussions with us. We look
forward to meeting with you at the appropriate time, as we are extremely proud of the diverse and
unparalleled business weve created and were eager to share our plans with you. Another important
point we would like to discuss with CBOT members is their CBOE exercise rights. We continue to have
reason to believe that the CBOT members are materially disadvantaged with regard to the CBOE
exercise rights under the current CME-CBOT merger agreement. This belief is rooted not only in the
fact that the CME has specifically challenged the rights of the CBOT as a result of the proposed
transaction, but the structure of the CME transaction would affectively dissolve CBOT as an entity.
In contrast, ICE is willing to employ a structure where this would not be the case. This valuable
right should not be overlooked by members. In addition, I would like to offer a gentle reminder
about why ICE is aware of the investigation by the department of justice. ICE was singled out in
the DOJ investigation as an example of an exchange that was able to compete against an entrenched
player, the NYMEX, using innovation. We appreciation this recognition although we disagree with the
conclusion CME draws from it. We have fully cooperated with the DOJ and we fully appreciate the DOJ
has every right to gather full and complete information before it arrives at any decision. With
respect to the timing of our offer, it was due in part to make shareholders and members aware of a
superior offer prior to the originally-scheduled April 4 vote. In shareholder and members were able
to approve the vote in advance of the DOJs decision, they would have lost their ability to have a
say in the outcome. Finally, I would like to remind shareholders of the CBOT that our proposal
contemplates the possibility of including a substantial cash component and well continue to listen
to members and shareholders in this regard. As many of you know, our NYBOT transaction, which was
recently concluded, included meaningful cash consideration. Now, lets talk about our capabilities
to successfully execute on our proposal to merge this CBOT and ICE in a landmark transaction. We
have many strengths we can leverage in building the CBOT of the future. The foundation of this is
the range of contracts covering the fastest-growing, most global and relevant products in the
derivative section, from ages and energy, from foreign exchange and energy rates, and demand for
more access to these products globally. The opportunity to leverage our global futures in OTC
marketplace for innovating the markets for corn and sugar alongside gasoline, ethanol, and crude
oil at this point in history represents a ground-breaking opportunity. We are in the pole position
at the dawn of an era where agricultural products are considered in the context of energy markets
and we believe that this is just one way in which our business brings a powerful growth driver to
the CBOT. I would like to put in perspective the growth engine at ICE through a very powerful
statistic. Since 2005 ICE has grown its business an average of 100% year over year on a monthly
basis. Quite simply, this sustained level of growth demonstrates not only our ability to execute
consistently, but to scale and manage a growing business. No other exchange has come close to this
track record of growth and it speaks to ICEs ability to outperform larger, better capitalized but
less aggressive and less innovative businesses. A third fact I would like to highlight is
significant upside that our transaction represents. Upside not just from a better proposal and
better growth prospects, but from better potential from price appreciation versus a better priced
stock of a much slower-growing company. While we run the company with a focus on execution, we
would note that ICE shares currently trade at a discount to the sector, despite our faster growth
rate and higher operating margins relative to our peers. This recent disconnect in valuation allows
new shareholders to fully participate more in the growth that lies ahead in our business. Im eager
to move on to discuss ICEs technology, because its at the heart of our business, perhaps more so
than any other derivatives exchange. You see, we dont judge technology by how much a company can
spend or based on the head count of its IT department. We are strictly performance driven and
thats what our customers demand. Only performance can keep you and us competitive and here are the
facts about our clear leadership. ICE is one of the only commodity exchanges in North America to have written its own
matching engine, and in 2005 ICEs engineers rewrote its proprietary matching engine. Contrast this
to competitors who maintain 20-year-old matching technologies purchased from previous partners.
This is both inefficient and costly to maintain. ICE is the only major commodity exchange in North
America to offer futures and over the counter markets electronically executed on the same streams.
ICE has the patents and history to further its expansion into other OTC markets.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
2 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
No other leading
derivative exchange come close to ICEs OTC trading capabilities. In fact, in the fourth quarter of
2006; 44% of ICEs revenue was from the execution of trades in the over the counter markets. In
other commodity exchange in the United States had OTC execution revenue of any significance. In
terms of distribution, in other exchange has distributed more broadly an ICEs trading platform.
Thats because there is no broader network than the internet. For exchanges with a desire to have a
global business, only the internet provides international reach. In 2006, nearly half of ICEs
revenues came from outside the United States. No other U.S. derivatives exchange can make that
claim, and we largely have our adoption of leading edge technology that supports internet-based
applications to thank. Interestingly, ICE has utilized high performance, low-cost, off the shelf
hardware in its vast technology infrastructure longer than any major commodity exchange in North
America. One should not make the mistake of assigning technology sophistication to an exchange
based on its longevity or its spending habits. Our competitors have only recently begun to moving
to commodity hardware and therefore have little experience in developing scale and effective
architectures around these systems. Some traders listening today who are new to ICE may wonder what
the ICE platform can offer them. Weve designed to it make sure that we have every possible
advantage when youre in the markets. One example is our spread implication engine. We offer
multigenerational spreads that derive and match trades throughout the curve rather than cutting off
spreads at just two generations. And our round-trip execution times are on par or below our major
competitors at approximately 30 milliseconds. All of this performance comes with significantly less
bandwidth requirements than those imposed by other exchanges. This level of sophistication and
performance is pervasive throughout our platform and its all been developed to provide more
trading opportunities for our customers. Finally, were not intimidated by large numbers, except
when they relate to needless expenditure. Its not necessary in this day and age to spend $1
billion to develop a state of the art trading platform, and weve proven its not necessary to have
hundreds of developers on the payroll. As a leading developer of trading technologies, we are
extremely proud of our specialized team that has brought far more innovations in trading
technologies than other exchanges in recent year and weve done it with leaner and more productive
staff. Today, ICE employs approximately 100 developers and engineers recruited from exchange and
technology firms around the world. This lean and mean approach allows us to scale faster and
achieve better technology improvements than other exchanges at a fraction of the cost. We believe
our shareholders appreciate this highly-efficient approach to spending their money. Let me give you
an example to the point I just made. In 2005, ICE saw transactions grow by a factor of 100 and
improved its performance by 95% measured by round-trip times. This compares to another major
exchange whos transactions grew by a factor of 30 and only improved performance by 80% at the same
time. This means we are achieving higher gains of performance amid much faster growth at less
expense. Based on new software that well be putting into production in the second quarter, we
expect that our technology will significantly outperform all or major derivatives platforms by the
end of the first half of this year and that our round-trip times will now be in the single digits
of milliseconds. We also estimate that in a very short time frame, a matter of a few months, our
high performance trading platform will be able to handle the CBOTs diverse interest rating and
commodity markets. As our detractors will point out, we are smaller and younger, but that makes our
achievements all the more significantly. Were nimble and were table to evolve quickly and we are
busy capitalizing on opportunities that big guys miss. And there are a lot of them. Now let me move
on to clearing. Id like to begin by sharing a story that demonstrates how ICE, perhaps more than
any other exchange, truly understands the value and the potential of clearing. We have uniquely
demonstrated integrated futures and OTC execution in clearing capabilities. When we started ICE, I
visited every major derivatives exchange in North America. Yes, all the names youre thinking of.
I went to visit the top management to see if we could hook ICEs OTC execution platform to their
clearinghouses. I believe that by adding clearing to the over the counter market, participants in
the market would have better market access regardless of size or bilateral credit lines. I saw the
value of the clearing house as a central counterparty with a global community surrounding it could
provide. This vision was not shared by any clearinghouse in the United States in the year 2000 as
one exchange after another told me they were not interested, that this idea would not work, they
say its never been done, which is something that rings familiar to the objections to our proposal
to our proposal that we hear today. Eventually we went to London and acquiring a U.K.-based futures
exchange went our business was refused by those in the United States. It was only after tremendous
and highly profitable successes with electronic executions and clearing of OTC energy contract that
is other exchanges started to build plans around OTC clearing. Today, they still exist and only has
plans for many of them, with execution of these plans yet to play out. However, ICE created the
concept of OTC clearing in the commodities market and today its a key part of our growth strategy.
The fact that the OTC markets are larger than futures markets is not lost on us. Were clearly a
leader in this regard and we intend to remain an innovator in our markets and soon additional
markets outside of our core commodities business. As many of you know, today we do not have a large
clearinghouse, but what we do have is the ability to innovate, to scale, and to do it quickly. So
what does scale me? With regard to clearing, relying on trading volume as a metric is not the way
to measure clearing capacity. It comes down to the number of transactions that have to be cleared.
So we likely to have to scale our systems by a factor of 13 to 15 times. This scale factor is
highly achievable. Over the last two years, weve scaled our technology capacity amid rapid growth
by a factor of 100 times. Let me repeat, 100 times capacity increase, and weve done this while
providing significant improvements in the performance of our technology relative to the
improvements of our competitors, who have much slower growing businesses. These facts and this
level of performance demonstrate capabilities that we have to bring CBOT onboard quickly, while
executing our growth strategies for new products and additional OTC markets. ICE has managed a
business with the highest growth rate in
the industry for two years. Weve introduced new, innovative products and services. Weve delivered
on our promises and exceeded expectations in most cases. The fastest-growing exchange were held to
higher standards than others in our sectors and we embrace this high standard as it only makes our
business better. Clearly, technology is at the core of our business, its whats given us on entree
into a growing range of markets, and these are challenges that we thrive on. And we will meet these
challenges on our terms and on our customers terms, and not on terms combined by competitors in
accordance with how they run their businesses. Our clearing strategy is well defined. Its rock
solid, it will offer a global, not
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
3 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
just a North American perspective. Importantly, we are offering
the ability for the CFTC community and CME community to get more into products and services and
recognize there are unmet needs around products and clearing and these opportunities can help FCMs
grow their businesses. Today, this almost does not exist. As you see, there is one dominant
clearinghouse in North America. Many of us are here because theres been room to compete and I
believe there is value derived from competition that cant be quantified in any kind of margining
statistics. The value of competition accrues to all participants in the industry. In terms of
scale, the requirements we are aware of are highly achievable. Importantly, based on
publicly-available information, it appears that the current clearing agreement that the CBOT has in
place extends through January 2009. We believe strongly that we could have required scale in place
for clearing within the next six months and we would be more than willing to accept CBOTs clearing
business at that time. Let me say the numbers presented to you about our business are highly
flawed, with the intent of instilling fear in the place of a better offer to shareholders. Our
clearing arrangement would offer similar capital efficiencies in the market than exists today,
approximately $1.3 billion in savings to the industry. Through our NYBOT integration, weve
demonstrated our ability to move quickly and seamlessly to bring new technology and scale to a
business following just six weeks of ownership. I would like to remind you, we brought technology
to exchange that had none. We hooked to a clearinghouse, to a clearing community. We brought in new
users and only did this in a manner of weeks. We immediately set volume records after we introduced
our trading and clearing technology. Again , we achieved all of this in just six weeks compared to
the nine-month time frame it traditionally takes it. Its unprecedented and gives us a basis that
we can achieve an equally fast and seamless transition. Finally; I want to touch on the synergy
estimates that weve set forth in our proposal. Our synergies are real and theyre quantity final
and we believe that accurate synergies should be accurately disclosed. We look forward to
confirming our view on these at the right time. In the meantime, because only ICE has a view into
how its operations are managed, let me share the facts. Our synergy estimates are highly realistic
and achievable. In fact, our expense surgeries are less aggressive than the CMEs proposal. we are
willing to define our expected revenue synergies in contrast to the competing proposal where
synergies are not being shared. If successful, ICE will be merging our four exchange businesses,
two of which are North American futures exchanges. This alone affords a fuller range of synergy
opportunities. Excluding savings referenced by the CME by consolidation of the CBOT trading floors,
ICE believes a comparable amount of the CME estimated $106 million in expense savings would be
available through a combination of ICE and CBOT. Our bottom-up estimate of available expense
savings is $100 million. An estimated savings of $90 million is a result of moving clearing
prosecute CME and thats based on a 2009 run rate at an 84% initial incremental margin. Therefore,
reflecting anticipated related expenses. Capital expenditures and operating expenses to enable us
to scale our business have already been included in the defined synergies. We again reiterate that
one should not equate spending with sophistication or system capacity. In accordance with Moores
law, ICE has harnessed an emerging, high-power technology in a way that brings far more performance
than investing in the maintenance of old technology. Our revenue synergies are also quite
realistic, including growing the precious metals futures complex and OTC products as well as
execution of an OTC strategy in fixed income markets and from synergies in bringing energy together
with agricultural products. These combination benefits are achievable within 18 months of closing.
In previous acquisitions, ICE has relayed credible estimates of savings and achieved those
estimates on announced time line. Lastly, the CME incorrectly referenced ICEs surgeries at 48% of
expenses rather than the 28.5% of expense, which is clearly achievable based on the analysis we set
out. This calculation appropriately sets aside this clearing synergies from the CBOT expense base
with some cells for ICE our revenue surgeries. I would like to close by saying that we remain
extremely enthusiastic about our core energy and agricultural commodity business. Ours continues to
be the fastest-growing business in the derivative sector today. Our commitment to our core business
is unwavering and we have a number of exciting initiatives that we hope to be announcing shortly.
As many of our lime shareholders know, we have a strong and enviable business on a stand-alone
basis, but we are also opportunistic and aggressive. We believe as members and shareholders of the
CBOT you will appreciate these particular qualities in a management team and in the dedicated staff
that drives ICE forward on a daily basis around the globe. Most of all, I want to reiterate our
commitment to building ICEs business for the benefit of shareholders. ICE employees are
shareholders and they take tremendous pride in what we are achieving. I see it in their results and
in their steadfast commitment to growing our business. We wont be swayed by the words of other. We
are only focused on our customers and on our shareholders needs and requirements. And with that I
would like to take your questions.
Operator
[OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] Our first question is coming from Chris donut from SandlerONeil.
Unidentified
Thank for taking my call. One quick question. With the announcement today about the two new
coadvisers, can you tell us what their role will be?
Jeff Sprecher
Sure. Theyre going to help advise us on the transaction proposed transaction, and I think its
significant that these are two of the largest FCMs or clearing members, if you will, in the global
derivatives business. In fact, UBS is number one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
4 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
Unidentified
Right.
Jeff Sprecher
Theres been a lot said by others about savings that could inure from ICEs products and proposal.
I believe there is tremendous support in the industry to create a strong, large competitive
clearing organization that uses techniques and governance that would be very, very valuable to the
community.
Unidentified
Can we say this is also an indicator of something like what the futures industry association?
Jeff Sprecher
I dont want to speak for the FIA. The FIA has not made a public announcement about our
proposal. Theyve only, at this point, made a public announcement about the competing proposal,
which they have concerns and objections over. I do believe personally that there is very, very
strong support for saving the CBOT and building a very strong competitive, foil, if you will in the
exchange sector to continue to drive growth and innovation.
Unidentified
Okay. So UBS, this is like their, so to speak, endorsement?
Jeff Sprecher
Well, I think these companies have gotten behind this proposal and its gone all the way
through their organization in terms of getting those approvals to make sure that they felt
comfortable attaching their name to our deal.
Unidentified
Okay. Thanks very much.
Jeff Sprecher
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is coming from Josh Carter from Goldman Sachs.
Unidentified
Hi, Jeff. Thanks.
Jeff Sprecher
Good morning.
Unidentified
Good morning. Why dont you just chat a little bit more about clearing. You talked about the
way you come up with your estimates for 2009, I think it was $90 million, which you said was an 84%
incremental margin, and I think from the presentation that implies about $17 million of expenses.
Itd be interesting if you could just talk a little bit more about the nature of those expenses,
how you would think about CapEx, is this people, is it technology, is it both, and what gives you
confidence that 84% is the right incremental margin?
Jeff Sprecher
Sure. As youre aware, we are suggesting that we have about a $17 million annual expense built
into that number, which we believe is a significant number and I would also point your attention to
slide 12 that we have in the deck to give you some sense of what ICE intends to do in terms of
building a clearing footprint. Were not that far off. We believe that the NYBOT clearinghouse
currently has capacity to handle about 1.2 million transactions per day. And the CBOT, we believe,
is clearing about 800,000 transactions a day. That being said, we, separate and distinct
from the CBOT transaction, we believe there is a real opportunity in clearing and we want to have a
global footprint for clearing and we are building capacity into the New York clearing corporation
as we speak. Many of the costs for doing that are costs that youve already seen in the context of
costs that weve suggested as part of our original NYBOT acquisition. So we dont believe the cost
of scaling that system is particularly high. And I believe that an 84% operating margin placed on
future clearing revenues is extremely conservative in terms of running a clearing business.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
5 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
Unidentified
And the revenue growth rate that I think youre assuming, is it 12.5%; is that right for the
clearing? That could be where youre conservative as well, potentially?
Jeff Sprecher
It could well be. Hopefully youve covered us for a while and you have a sense on how we try to
put together our numbers and our sense is that we have a lot of credibility with you and other
colleagues on the street and weve earned that credibility, I hope, and we want to continue to
deliver on it, which means we should not over promise.
Unidentified
Right. That makes sense. You made a comment that I wanted to see if you could just flush out a
little bit about clearing synergy and you mentioned the $1.3 billion. Were you referring to what
CME and CBOT had talked about being the synergies, or was that a synergy in terms of capital
efficiencies that you are associating with the with your proposed transaction?
Jeff Sprecher
That is essentially theres been a lot of talk about how much money the FCM community, which is
not the traders and not the managers of exchanges, but its the clearers that post money at
clearinghouses, how much money they would save, if you will, with the various alternatives that are
being proposed. And what Im suggesting is that we think that the design that weve laid out here
would save about $1.3 billion of posted capital by the FCMs in ICEs clearinghouse as a result of
net margining and other technique that is we would use. So we dont believe, in other words, moving
clearing out of the current clearinghouse into our proposal is financially that disadvantageous to
the FCM community. And I think its further evidenced by the fact that the largest FCM, the guy
that has the most money on deposits has gotten behind our proposal.
Unidentified
That was helpful. Thank you. Maybe just finally, obviously youve done a phenomenal job on the OTC
side of the business, especially in energy. Do you see that the interest rate businesses or the
treasury businesses or more broadly fixed income businesses will have different challenges that
what youve had in energy for the OTC, or what gives you the confidence, I guess, that you will be
able to continue to exploit that in the CBOT businesses?
Jeff Sprecher
Sure. I think that the CBOT tried getting into this space, I believe, in the past and it was not
successful. But ICEs technology and the patents that weve applied for ourself or license from
others have allowed us to really build a technology that we think will work in the interest rate
complex and the over the counter market. We have very good relationship with major dealers. We have
kind of intimate knowledge of the way they make money and our sense is thats been an
underexploited opportunity. I think we could bring clearing to that OTC market using ICEs
technology for execution and I private hope is that we could be quite successful in penetrating
that business. I also think that we really do like the precious metals complex that the CBOT has
built and there are also OTC opportunities around the metals complex that are similar. Those two,
we think, would play very well together.
Unidentified
Thats great. Thank you very much.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is coming from Edward from Fox-Pitt Kelton.
Unidentified
Good morning guys.
Jeff Sprecher
Morning.
Unidentified
In the past, CME and CBOT have not really competed against the full breadth of their products. Do
you foresee if you were combined for CBOT, that that would be more likely, the division between
long-term and short-term interest rate futures?
Jeff Sprecher
Yes. I think we look for an opportunities that others business and I think we would try to exploit
relationships, technology, innovation, anything we could to get more business. So yeah, I think in
an electronic world, theres an opportunity if well-positioned to go after incumbent exchanges
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
6 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
and youre very familiar with the fact that we listed a derivative of NYMEXs WTI contract and thats
been a very successful way of moving into an incumbent space. That kind of innovation, I think we
can continue to exploit. If you look at the ICE proposal with the Board of Trade and sort of then
lay next to it the CMEs product suite, including their hosting of NYMEX, you end up with very
similar asset categories and I think youd see certainly ICE and NYMEX are looking at the same
opportunity sets and I think youd see ICE managing helping to manage the Board of Trade and CME
having lost out in the proposed merger being very competitive with one another. And I think thats
what our industry is excited about, because that will drive new products, new innovation, and new
areas for people to trade.
Unidentified
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is coming from Mike Vinciquerra.
Unidentified
Good morning, Jeff. Its Mike Vinciquerra.
Jeff Sprecher
Hi, Mike.
Unidentified
Youve put together your proposal without really getting behind the scenes and look at the books
inside out. Where do you see potentially the greatest potential variance from what youve been able
to garner from the publicly available documents once you get in there in the next couple of weeks
and dig in?
Jeff Sprecher
I cant go into the sec half of your question, but let me just elaborate on your preamble,
which is the thing that is weve been able to find is in publicly available documents, and theyre
sort of big, chunky, obvious synergies. So its why Im sitting here today saying were very
confident of those synergies and believe they are conservative. I cant talk about the back half of
your question. If you can cut me some slack.
Unidentified
Sure. Secondly, can you just remind us again when you talk about the trading floor between the
NYBOT and CBOT, the combination, I assume, would end up shifting from New York to Chicago to one
trading floor, is that the plan?
Jeff Sprecher
We havent announced the plan yet and weve made commitments to our colleagues in New York on the
maintenance of trading floors and weve suggested that we would adopt the commitments that are in
the CMEs current proposal with respect to the CBOTs trading floors and we make good on our
commitment so I dont want to put anything more out there other than that.
Unidentified
Can I interrupt then that according to your current synergy estimates, youre not presuming the
closure of a floor and your initial estimates for expense synergies?
Jeff Sprecher
I dont want to get into the details, other than I do think that we do I think what some people
may be missing and criticizing our synergies is that we really do operate four businesses. Two
futures exchanges, an OTC business, and then we would have the CBOT and there would be a lot of
synergy in operating those globally in terms of the way we staff, the way we buy network capable
and everything else that goes into running a
global derivatives exchange these days. Let me just leave it at that. I think there at the
appropriate time, if available, well get deeper into synergies.
Unidentified
Okay. Thanks very much, Jeff.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is coming from Scott Applebee from Deutsche Bank.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
7 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
Unidentified
Hey, Jeff.
Jeff Sprecher
Good morning.
Unidentified
Quick question on due diligence. Is there I assume from the Board of Trade press release last
week that you were able to begin due diligence. Am I incorrect there, have you been able to now
it sounds as if you havent actually had the opportunity to get inside the company. Can you just
explain that?
Jeff Sprecher
Scott, unfortunately, this is one of those where I cant say anything, and I hope youll appreciate
that. Well deal with it at some appropriate time.
Unidentified
Sure thing. The other thing is, as luck would have it, I just happened to be in Chicago last week
for other meetings and I actually went to the CME presentation to the Board of Trade members and
one of the things that was seemingly evident at the end of the meeting and certainly from the
members comments that the CME would be their preferred partner, but not at these levels. So I
guess Im trying to figure out, what do you think you need to do apart from providing evidence that
your bid is truly better than whats being presented by the CME, but what else do you need to do to
overcome years and years of biasness for wanting to be with the CME, and two, the obvious cultural
advantages that they have?
Jeff Sprecher
Well, first of all, I think its taken without a taken as a given that youve got to be the
superior proposal. They are both CBOT members and CBOT shareholders, public company shareholders,
who have a right to be offered a superior proposal. And we believe our proposal, the currently
proposal on the table is vastly superior, frankly. Secondly, we are looking forward to our own
opportunity of talking to the members at an appropriate time and really giving them a straight
scoop so that they can make an informed decision. I think information is key. Thats why we are
putting information out in some great detail in the form of the call area materials that the
deck thats attached to this presentation. Well see, but ultimately I hate to keep harping on
it, but weve done these kind of transactions before and we understand the give and take and the
ebb and flow and I really do think that we understand the needs of traders and shareholders and
hopefully that ultimately that kind of thing will prevail.
Unidentified
Okay. Thanks, Jeff.
Jeff Sprecher
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is coming from David from Turner.
Unidentified
Thanks for the additional detail on the synergies. My question has been asked already and answered.
Jeff Sprecher
Okay. Thank you, David.
Operator
[OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] Our next question is coming from Casey Ambrich from millennium.
Unidentified
The one question I have, how much confidence should we have in some of your clearing assumptions
when were still yet to get all the details on the NYBOT clearing strategy?
Jeff Sprecher
You can take a look at all of the ancillary things that are going on around us, which is were
building out the New York clearing corporation, were well along in building it out. Weve already
substantially scaled it, just from owning the business for a matter of weeks. We want to be a
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
8 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
major player in global clearing and that was going on well in advance of our announced proposal here. And
I think you can also look at the fact that people like UBS and is in the process of combining that
with Calyon and Morgan Stanley have come on to help us with not only our proposal for the Board of
Trade, but very much in terms of helping us with a road map towards global clearing. In terms of
exactly what we do with our energy business, which is what youre referring to, Ive stated before
that well make any announcements that we have to make at the appropriate time, but we feel
comfortable that were going to continue to deliver on what we promised in our NYBOT merger
proposal.
Unidentified
Okay. Then one follow-up, and you can choose to answer this how you want, but I you guys coming in
a little bit lighter than consensus for the quarter, the low $0.70. The one reason I bring up the
estimates, if the ICE stock were to fall by $10, it doesnt look like it would be a premium bid
anymore. How would you address that?
Jeff Sprecher
If ICE stock rallies by $10, it would become a very premium bid. I believe it accurately reflects
the market, I believe in free markets and as I said in my prepared remarks, were already trading
at a significant discount to other exchanges notwithstanding that were the fastest-growing
exchange. While I am not in any way suggesting your number is correct, if that were the number,
hypothetically, it would still have represented one of the fastest-growing derivative changes in
the space.
Unidentified
Sure, I agree. Okay. Thanks very much.
Jeff Sprecher
Sure.
Operator
Thank you. Our final question is coming from Jonathan from Wachovia Capital.
Unidentified
Yes, good morning.
Jeff Sprecher
Good morning.
Unidentified
Just curious if you had spoken directly with the CBOT in regards to the preservation of those
rights, or is solely you think the competing offer is the control issue there is basically how that
plays out? Have you spoken to them directly about the preservation of those existing rights?
Jeff Sprecher
I cant talk about conversations Im having and Im sure you understand that thats appropriate.
Let me just say that we are aware that the CBOT and the CBOE have differing views of rights and a
lot of litigation going on around its shareholders and members, so the situation is incredibly
complicated right now. Our point is that we think that we can preserve the CBOTs structure as it
is right now so that as a minimum, we dont make anything any worse. I think the CBOT members who
were talking to about our proposal who have been very intimately involved in the history of the
creation of the CBOE have a very knowledgeable and informed view of what their position is and what
they believe the eventually eventual outcome will be and we think we can preserve the views they
have right now with respect to the structure of the CBOT.
Unidentified
Understood. Okay, thank you. I appreciate your answer.
Jeff Sprecher
Sure.
Operator
Thank you. Now I would like to turn the floor back over to management for any closing remarks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
9 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
Jeff Sprecher
Well, thank you very much. We appreciate on short notice the opportunity to get more information
into your hands. We want to continue to be open and transparent with you, our shareholders, with
you, our Wall Street analyst, and with the potential shareholders from the CBOT. Well continue as
we can to provide information to you, so thank you very much for your attention today.
Operator
Thank you. This concludes todays ICE conference call. You may now disconnect.
DISCLAIMER
Thomson Financial reserves the right to make changes to documents, content, or other information on this web site without obligation to notify any person of such changes.
In the conference calls upon which Event Transcripts are based, companies may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding a variety of items. Such
forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those stated in any
forward-looking statement based on a number of important factors and risks, which are more specifically identified in the companies most recent SEC filings. Although
the companies may indicate and believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate or
incorrect and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the results contemplated in the forward-looking statements will be realized.
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN EVENT TRANSCRIPTS IS A TEXTUAL REPRESENTATION OF THE APPLICABLE COMPANYS CONFERENCE CALL AND WHILE EFFORTS ARE MADE TO PROVIDE AN ACCURATE
TRANSCRIPTION, THERE MAY BE MATERIAL ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR INACCURACIES IN THE REPORTING OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE CONFERENCE CALLS. IN NO WAY DOES THOMSON FINANCIAL OR
THE APPLICABLE COMPANY OR THE APPLICABLE COMPANY ASSUME ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY INVESTMENT OR OTHER DECISIONS MADE BASED UPON THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS WEB
SITE OR IN ANY EVENT TRANSCRIPT. USERS ARE ADVISED TO REVIEW THE APPLICABLE COMPANYS CONFERENCE CALL ITSELF AND THE APPLICABLE COMPANYS SEC FILINGS BEFORE MAKING ANY
INVESTMENT OR OTHER DECISIONS.
© 2005, Thomson StreetEvents All Rights Reserved.
Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this transcript may contain forward-looking
information regarding IntercontinentalExchange, Inc., CBOT Holdings, Inc., and the combined company
after the completion of the possible merger that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for
forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the merger
transaction involving ICE and CBOT, including future strategic and financial benefits, the plans,
objectives, expectations and intentions of ICE following the completion of the merger, and other
statements that are not historical facts. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and
expectations of ICEs management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual
results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements regarding the success of the proposed
transaction: the failure of CBOT to accept ICEs proposal and enter into definitive agreements to
effect the transaction, the risk that the revenue opportunities, cost savings and other anticipated
synergies from the merger may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected;
superior offers by third parties; the ability to obtain governmental approvals and rulings on or
regarding the transaction on the proposed terms and schedule; the failure of ICE or CBOT
stockholders to approve the merger; the risk that the businesses will not be integrated
successfully; disruption from the merger making it difficult to maintain relationships with
customers, employees or suppliers; competition and its effect on pricing, spending and third-party
relationships and revenues; social and political conditions such as war, political unrest or
terrorism; general economic conditions and normal business uncertainty. Additional risks and
factors are identified in ICEs filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC),
including ICEs Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, as filed with the
SEC on February 26, 2007.
You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date
of this transcript. Except for any obligations to disclosure material information under the Federal
securities laws, ICE undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements to
reflect events or circumstances after the date of this transcript.
Important Merger Information
In connection with the proposed transaction, and assuming the merger proposal is accepted by CBOT,
ICE intends to file relevant materials with the SEC, including a proxy statement/prospectus
regarding the proposed transaction. Such documents, however, are not currently available.
INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND ALL SUCH OTHER RELEVANT MATERIALS
REGARDING THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT
INFORMATION. Investors will be able to obtain a free copy of the proxy statement/prospectus, if
and when such document becomes available, and related documents filed by ICE or CBOT without
charge, at the SECs website (http://www.sec.gov). Copies of the final proxy statement/prospectus,
if and when such document becomes available, may be obtained, without charge, from ICE by directing
a request to ICE at 2100 RiverEdge Parkway, Suite 500, Atlanta, Georgia, 30328, Attention: Investor
Relations; or by emailing a request to ir@theice.com.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
10 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.
Preliminary Transcript
Mar. 26. 2007 / 8:30AM ET, ICE ICE Provides Additional Information on Proposed CBOT Merger
This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the
securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer,
solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities
laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a
prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
ICE and its directors, executive officers and other employees may be deemed to be participants in
the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. You can find information about
ICEs executive officers and directors in ICEs Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on
February 26, 2007 and in ICEs proxy statement for its 2006 annual meeting of stockholders, dated
April 3, 2006. Additional information about the interests of potential participants will be
included in the prospectus/proxy statement, if and when it becomes available, and the other
relevant documents filed with the SEC.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomson StreetEvents
|
|
www.streetevents.com
|
|
|
| Contact Us
|
|
|
11 |
|
© 2007 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial.