Chinese led investor group to buy the Chicago Stock Exchange

New investor: This Friday, Feb. 5, 2016, shows the building that houses the Chicago Stock Exchange in Chicago. The acquisition comes amid an unparalleled worldwide shopping spree by Chinese investors, and it’s a true trophy buy for Casin Group, which will gain a foothold in America’s $22 trillion equity market.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2016, have not been disclosed.

The Chicago Stock Exchange, one of the oldest U.S. exchanges, said Friday it has agreed to be bought by a Chinese-led investment group. Following the close of the transaction, John Kerin will continue to be the CEO and President of CHX and expects CHX’s management team to remain in place. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Efforts to reach Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group were unsuccessful. When Germany’s Deutsche Boerse AG wanted to buy the owner of the New York Stock Exchange in 2011, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, raised obstacles.

The exchange, based in Chicago, was founded in 1882 and trades 8,300 stocks and exchange traded funds. A long-term objective of the company, Kerin said, is to list Chinese companies in the U.S.

Bloomberg Business has reported that Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group has signed a definitive agreement to assume control of the 134-year-old trade house, and will be the first Chinese company to own a U.S. Exchange. The World Federation of Exchanges said none of its USA members, which include the owners of the NYSE, Chicago Mercantile Exchange and others, have ever been owned by Chinese interests.

Sales of stocks exchanges, which tend to be national symbols, have faced political objections in the past.