Saudi Tadawul Group Holding has acquired a 32.6 percent stake in DME Holdings Limited, one of the leading international commodities exchanges.
As a result of the transaction, the group is the joint largest shareholder in DME Holdings, the parent company of Dubai Mercantile Exchange, alongside CME Group, with other shareholders including the Oman Investment Authority and Dubai Holding, as well as global financial and commercial industry leaders.
Following the acquisition, first announced in January this year, DME will be rebranded as Gulf Mercantile Exchange (GME).
The partnership will enable GME to capture demand for energy, metals, and agricultural commodity markets and support the ongoing global transition to a sustainable economy through the launch of next-generation derivatives contracts.
“The investment from the group represents a significant opportunity to leverage world-class capabilities and expertise, accelerating GME’s growth as a regional commodities leader that is well-positioned to capture global commodity demand,” Saudi Tadawul Group said.
“It will support a strategic move towards leveraging the Middle East’s geographic proximity to both key commodity production hubs and end-markets, with GME serving as a bridge between production and end-markets,” it added.
Dubai Mercantile Exchange
Dubai Mercantile Exchange is the premier energy-focused commodities exchange east of the Suez and home to the world’s third crude benchmark. A total of 20 billion barrels of Omani crude oil have traded on the exchange since inception in June 2007, while three billion barrels have been delivered via the DME’s physical delivery mechanism over the same period.
DME Holdings Limited is a joint venture between Dubai Holding, Oman Investment Authority and CME Group, and is the parent company of DME. In addition to its core shareholders, global financial institutions and energy trading firms such as Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Shell, Vitol and Concord Energy have taken equity stakes in DME Holdings Limited.
DME is located within the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority.
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