CME CME Group Inc

By Ian Walker

NEX Group PLC (NXG.LN) shareholders have approved CME Group Inc.'s (CME) $5.3 billion takeover for the U.K. company at the general meeting earlier Friday, with 99.98% of proxy votes cast in favor of the deal.

The U.K. financial-technology company agreed to the takeover by the Chicago futures-exchange giant on March 29. Under the deal's terms NEX Group shareholders will get 500 pence in cash and 0.0444 new CME shares. The offer valued each NEX share at 10 pounds ($13.49), based on CME's closing share price of $158.84 on March 28.

The deal is expected to be completed in the second half of 2018.

"We are delighted that the proxy votes of our shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in support of our transaction with the CME," a spokesman for NEX said in an emailed statement. An official statement will be made later Friday.

"The deal is expected to complete in the second half of this year and we are continuing to work with the CME to obtain the necessary regulatory and anti-trust clearances," the spokesman said.

NEX owns the biggest electronic platform for U.S. Treasury bonds trading, called BrokerTec, while CME dominates the market for interest-rate futures linked to U.S. government bond prices. Combining the two would put CME in a powerful position, as it would control the plumbing that underpins both Treasury futures and a swath of the underlying "cash" market.

Alexander Osipovich contributed to this article.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 18, 2018 08:01 ET (12:01 GMT)

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