CME Group, a derivatives exchange, has acquired Credit Market Analysis (CMA), a provider of credit derivatives market data. CME Group says the acquisition will provide it with greater exposure to the rapidly-growing $46 trillion in notional outstanding credit derivatives market.
Under the agreement, CME Group, through its subsidiary CME Swaps Marketplace, will purchase 100% of the share capital of CMA, all of its operating assets and intellectual property. Further terms of the sale were not disclosed.
As a wholly owned subsidiary of CME Group, CMA will remain headquartered in London and will continue to operate under the CMA name. Laurent Paulhac will continue in his role as the company’s CEO and the existing CMA management team is expected to remain in place.
CMA currently offers two products to over-the-counter (OTC) credit derivative market participants, primarily focused on asset managers, hedge funds and other buyside participants. The company’s flagship CMA QuoteVision price discovery tool provides a structured view of live indicative quotes. The CMA DataVision end-of-day pricing service, another product offering, provides objective buy-side consensus price verification data.
“It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of accurate, timely and reliable sources of market data to the smooth functioning of financial markets, especially in today’s environment,” said CME CEO Craig Donohue in a statement. “Working together, we believe that we can expand CMA’s existing services in the credit derivatives markets, as well as to additional asset classes that would benefit from additional transparency or central counterparty clearing services.”