The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) is reported to be muscling in on Intercontinental Exchange's (ICE) planned purchase of Canada's Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE).
ICE agreed in June to take over the privately-held WCE in a deal worth C$62.08 per share or C$40 million.
However earlier this week the WCE said a third party had made an unsolicited bid for its business which tops the ICE bid. The un-named party has offered a price of C$77.59 per share or C$50 million for the Canadian exchange.
According to a Bloomberg report, which cites a person familiar with the matter, the mystery bidder for WCE is Nymex.
ICE released a statement earlier this week in response to the development saying its takeover deal for WCE is "binding" and it has the right to match any competing proposal.
ICE acquired the New York Board of Trade earlier this year but failed to close a deal to takeover the Chicago Board of Trade (Cbot) which went on to tie the knot with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) earlier this month.