Rival Bidders for CBOT Mull Higher Offers: Report

Rival bidders for CBOT Holdings, the second-biggest U.S. futures market, are each considering raising their offers a third time, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings contacted CBOT shareholders about a possible higher bid last week, Bloomberg said on its Web site. The CME was told to raise its offer to $11.7 billion from $10.1 billion, according to the report.

Atlanta-based energy exchange IntercontinentalExchange , which has been pursuing a hostile bid for CBOT since March, is also considering whether to raise its offer a third time, Bloomberg said.

Each bidder has already raised its offer twice for the parent of the Chicago Board of Trade.

CBOT members and shareholders and CME shareholders will vote on July 9 on whether to approve their merger, which was cleared last week by the U.S. Department of Justice.

None of the three companies was immediately available to comment.