Last week the Chicago Board of Trade confirmed the plan for a $150 million initial public offering later this year. This reflects the trend among US derivatives and stock exchanges to become for-profit institutions. CBOT will now be better positioned to participate in further exchange consolidation that will undoubtedly take place. This process was previously hampered by the close membership structures of the exchanges that functioned to a great degree like a clubby business closed to outsiders.

Chris Hehmeyer, co-chairman of Goldenberg, Hehmeyer Co, a Chicago-based broker, said: “It’s a global stage and to be able to compete going forward they need to take this step. They have good management and good leadership that understands that.”

The IPO plan was supported by the members as they hope to replicate the success of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s IPO in December 2002, the first futures exchange IPO in the financial world.

Huw van Steenis, analyst at Morgan Stanley in London, said: “The group of listed exchanges is becoming increasingly international …[with valuations that] reflect outsized volume growth being partly driven by a shift in volumes from floor to electronic.”

The CBOT will probably take no more than a month to vote on a proposed IPO, promising that a change was possible in “aggregate value” of $150 million.