NYSE's parent company to acquire Chicago Stock Exchange

CHICAGO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The New York Stock Exchange's parent company has agreed to acquire the Chicago Stock Exchange after a Chinese group's bid was denied by the U.S. regulators earlier this year.

The Chicago Stock Exchange on Thursday confirmed on tweeter that it has entered into "a definitive agreement" to be acquired by Intercontinental Exchange Inc., the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Intercontinental Exchange said in a news release that the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Intercontinental Exchange will acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of the Chicago Stock Exchange Holdings Inc., but the terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

As the Chicago Stock Exchange only handles less than one percent of the whole U.S. stock trading volume, the Intercontinental Exchange believes that the financial impact of the transaction "will not be material."

China's Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group once sought to acquire the Chicago Stock Exchange in a reported 30-million-U.S.-dollar deal, but the Securities and Exchange Commission denied its bid in February, citing "security concerns."

The U.S. government has recently taken a series of protectionist actions, targeting Chinese products and investments amid escalating tensions between the two largest economies. Enditem