Filed by CBOE Holdings, Inc.
(SEC File No. 001-34774) pursuant to Rule 425
under the Securities Act of 1933
and deemed filed pursuant to
Rule 14a-12 under the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934
Subject Company: Bats Global Markets, Inc.
(SEC File No. 001-37732)
This correspondence was distributed on September 26, 2016.
September 26, 2016
Dear Valued Customer,
I am pleased to inform you that CBOE Holdings, Inc. announced today that we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bats Global Markets, Inc. This is an exciting transaction that should strengthen CBOE Holdings’ global position in innovative tradable products and services. Our enthusiasm for this acquisition is fueled by our strong belief that it will enable CBOE Holdings to better serve our marketplace, and you, our valued customers.
CBOE Holdings and Bats have different businesses that are highly complementary, and we believe bringing them together will be the source of many of the benefits from the transaction. The acquisition of Bats is expected to diversify our menu of products to include U.S. and European cash equities, global ETPs and global FX and broaden our global customer reach through Bats’ strong pan-European position. Through this transaction, we plan to incorporate the functionality offered by both technology platforms and migrate onto the proprietary Bats’ system, ultimately enabling customers to trade through a single platform. Additionally, we intend to use Bats’ market data expertise to expand our customer reach and create new index services.
We believe that the complementary nature of Bats’ and CBOE Holdings’ respective offerings and strengths and a shared passion for innovation will enhance our ability to create products and services that better enable our customers to respond to the opportunities and demands in an evolving global marketplace.
Our aim is to make your trading experience more efficient and user-friendly by writing to a single, state-of-the-art technology platform and creating a consistent trading experience across our markets. Further, the CBOE trading floor will remain open to serve our CBOE options market.
Today’s announcement represents just the first step in completing this transaction, which we expect to close in the first half of 2017 following the necessary regulatory clearance and approval process. Our entire team remains committed to providing you with superior customer service throughout this process, and we look forward to providing you an expanded suite of products and services after the transaction closes. Click to view the press release for additional details.
We are committed to keeping you updated, and please continue to engage with your CBOE Holdings representative in the normal course of business or with any questions about this exciting announcement.
Thank you for your continued support of CBOE Holdings — you have my commitment that we will continue to work hard every day to keep earning your business.
Sincerely,
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Ed Tilly |
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CBOE Holdings CEO |
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Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This communication contains certain statements regarding intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future of CBOE Holdings, Inc. (“CBOE”) and Bats Global Markets, Inc. (“Bats”), which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements
regarding post-closing integration or optimization of the combined businesses, anticipated synergies, the expected benefits of the proposed transaction and the anticipated timing of the closing. Words such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “plans,” “seeks,” “projects” or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs, such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “may” or variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, which are not statements of historical fact or guarantees or assurances of future performance. However, the absence of these words or similar expressions does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.
Actual results could differ materially from those projected or forecast in the forward-looking statements. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, without limitation, the following risks, uncertainties or assumptions: the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the consummation of the proposed transaction, including, without limitation, the receipt of stockholder and regulatory approvals (including clearance by antitrust authorities necessary to complete the transaction) on the terms desired or anticipated; unanticipated difficulties or expenditures relating to the proposed transaction, including, without limitation, difficulties that result in the failure to realize expected synergies, efficiencies and cost savings from the proposed transaction within the expected time period (if at all), whether in connection with integration, combining trading platforms, broadening distribution of offerings or otherwise; CBOE’s ability to obtain and maintain an investment grade credit rating and obtain financing on the anticipated terms and schedule; risks relating to the value of CBOE’s shares to be issued in the transaction; disruptions of CBOE’s and Bats’ current plans, operations and relationships with market participants caused by the announcement and pendency of the proposed transaction; potential difficulties in CBOE’s and Bats’ ability to retain employees as a result of the announcement and pendency of the proposed transaction; legal proceedings that may be instituted against CBOE and Bats following announcement of the proposed transaction; and other factors described in CBOE’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 19, 2016, Bats’ final prospectus, which was filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) on April 15, 2016, Bats’ quarterly report for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2016, which was filed with the SEC on August 5, 2016, and other filings made by CBOE and Bats from time to time with the SEC. The factors described in such SEC filings include, without limitation: CBOE’s ability to retain its right to exclusively list and trade certain index options and futures products; economic, political and market conditions; compliance with legal and regulatory obligations (and changes thereto), including obligations under agreements with regulatory agencies; increasing competition in the industries in which CBOE and Bats operate; CBOE’s and Bats’ ability to operate their respective businesses without violating the intellectual property rights of others and the costs associated with protecting their respective intellectual property rights; decreases in trading volumes or a shift in the mix of products traded on CBOE’s or Bats’ exchanges; each of CBOE’s and Bats’ ability to accommodate trading volume and transaction traffic, including significant increases, without failure or degradation of performance of their respective systems; CBOE’s and Bats’ ability to protect their respective systems and communication networks from security risks, including cyber-attacks; the ability to manage CBOE’s and Bats’ growth and strategic acquisitions or alliances effectively, including the ability to realize the anticipated benefits of past acquisitions; the ability to adapt successfully to technological changes to meet customers’ needs and developments in the marketplace; and the impact of legal and regulatory changes and proceedings, whether or not related to the proposed transaction.
Neither CBOE nor Bats undertakes, and each of them expressly disclaims, any duty to update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.
Additional Information Regarding the Transaction and Where to Find It
This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval. This communication is being made in respect of the proposed merger transaction involving CBOE Bats, CBOE Corporation and CBOE V, LLC. The issuance of shares of CBOE common stock in connection with the proposed merger will be submitted to the stockholders of CBOE for their consideration, and the proposed merger will be submitted to the stockholders of Bats for their consideration. In connection therewith, the parties intend to file relevant materials with the SEC, including a definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus, which will be mailed to CBOE stockholders and Bats stockholders. However, such documents are not currently
available. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING OR ANY INVESTMENT DECISION, INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF CBOE AND/OR Bats ARE URGED TO READ THE DEFINITIVE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS REGARDING THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders may obtain free copies of the definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus, any amendments or supplements thereto and other documents containing important information about each of CBOE and Bats, once such documents are filed with the SEC, through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by CBOE will be available free of charge on CBOE’s website at http://ir.cboe.com/financial-information/sec-filings.aspx under the heading “SEC Filings” or by contacting CBOE’s Investor Relations Department at (312) 786-7136. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by BATS will be available free of charge on BATS’ website at http://www.bats.com/investor_relations/financials/ under the heading “SEC Filings” or by contacting BATS’ Investor Relations Department at (913) 815-7132.
Participants in the Solicitation
CBOE, Bats, their respective directors and executive officers, certain other members of CBOE’s and Bats’ respective management and certain of CBOE’s and Bats’ respective employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed transaction. Information about the directors and executive officers of CBOE is set forth in its proxy statement for its 2016 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 6, 2016, and its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, which was filed with the SEC on February 19, 2016, and information about the directors and executive officers of Bats is set forth in its final prospectus, which was filed with the SEC on April 15, 2016. Each of these documents can be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available.