Feds give antitrust approval to CBOT-CME deal

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Justice Department gave antitrust approval to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc.'s proposed $9.8 billion purchase of crosstown rival CBOT Holdings Inc., saying it was unlikely that the deal would eliminate competition.

"The Antitrust Division determined that the evidence does not indicate that either the transaction or the clearing agreement is likely to reduce competition substantially," the Justice Department said in a statement.

The agency's Antitrust Division said that following their investigation that their products "are not close substitutes and seldom compete head to head."

The Justice Department also said that innovation would not be stifled as a result of this deal, nor would the merger prevent other financial exchanges from offering their own futures products..

NYSE Euronext, Inc. (Charts) recently announced it was eyeing offering its own futures products.

Approval of the deal comes after the upstart energy exchange InternationalExchange (Charts) tried to derail Chicago Mercantile Exchange's (CME) offer with an unsolicited bid last March.

InternationalExchange had offered $11.2 billion, but CBOT's board members voted in favor of the CME offer in May.

If successful, the CME-CBOT deal will result in the world's largest derivatives exchange, according to Reuters.

Shares of both CBOT Holdings Inc. (Charts) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings (Charts) finished over 1 percent higher in Monday trade.