May 4, 2017   SOURCE: BusinessWire

EEX acquires 100% ownership of US Nodal Exchange

The European Energy Exchange (EEX), part of Deutsche Börse Group, and the owners of US-based Nodal Exchange Holdings, LLC have successfully closed the transaction under which EEX has acquired 100% of the equity in Nodal Exchange.

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All remaining regulatory conditions to closing were satisfied recently, especially the US merger control process was passed successfully. The waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, was early terminated by notification as of 26 April of the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Antitrust Division. As a result, Nodal Exchange has become part of EEX Group.

Through this acquisition, EEX Group enters the North American energy trading markets, thereby expanding its global presence and membership base in line with its growth strategy. “With the acquisition of Nodal Exchange we are taking the next step towards our vision of EEX Group as a global commodity exchange”, says Peter Reitz, Chief Executive Officer of EEX.

“Nodal Exchange has enjoyed significant growth in recent years and we are very excited to build on this as part of EEX Group”, says Paul Cusenza, Chairman and CEO of Nodal Exchange. “As a leading energy exchange in Europe, EEX is well positioned to contribute to our further development and provide us the opportunity to grow our current business, including natural gas, and expand into new products and geographies.”

Nodal Exchange is a regulated derivatives exchange which currently offers over 1,000 electric power and natural gas contracts on hundreds of unique locations allowing market participants to hedge against price risks in the United States. All of the transactions on Nodal Exchange are cleared through its clearing house, Nodal Clear, a derivatives clearing organization under the Commodity Exchange Act that is regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Nodal Exchange, which grew its North American power trading volumes 97% in 2016 and 76% in Q1 2017, has become a significant part of the North American power market with 28% market share of open interest as of 31 March 2017 and 23% market share of U.S. monthly power futures traded volume in Q1 2017.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC was a financial advisor to Nodal Exchange Holdings, LLC for the transaction.

About EEX

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) is the leading energy exchange in Europe. It develops, operates and connects secure, liquid and transparent markets for energy and commodity products. At EEX, contracts on Power, Coal and Emission Allowances as well as Freight and Agricultural Products are traded or registered for clearing. Alongside EEX, EPEX SPOT, Powernext, Cleartrade Exchange (CLTX), Gaspoint Nordic, Power Exchange Central Europe (PXE) and Nodal Exchange are also part of EEX Group. Clearing and settlement of trading transactions are provided by the clearing house European Commodity Clearing (ECC) and by Nodal Clear in the United States. EEX is part of Deutsche Börse Group. More information: www.eex.com

About Nodal Exchange, LLC:

Nodal Exchange is a derivatives exchange providing price, credit and liquidity risk management solutions to participants in the North American energy markets. Nodal Exchange is a leader in innovation, having introduced the world’s largest set of electric power locational (nodal) futures contracts. Nodal Exchange currently offers over 1,000 contracts on hundreds of unique locations, providing the most effective basis risk management available to market participants. In addition, Nodal Exchange offers a Henry Hub natural gas contract providing cross-margining benefits with participant’s power portfolios. All Nodal Exchange contracts are cleared by Nodal Clear which is a CFTC registered derivatives clearing organization. Nodal Exchange is a designated contract market regulated by the CFTC. More information: www.nodalexchange.com