Financial giant Intercontinental Exchange has agreed to purchase the Israeli-founded SuperDerivatives for an estimated $350 million, news outlets abroad reported over the weekend. The deal is for cash and is expected to be wrapped up some time in the last quarter of this year. The purchaser, ICE, is traded on Wall Street and assessed to be worth some $20 billion. SuperDerivatives was founded in 2000 by Dr. David (Dudi) Gershon. The company was founded to bring transparency to option pricing, a complex field that uses complicated mathematical formulas and models to arrive at pricing. Its business headquarters are located in New York, and the company also has a research and development center in the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv. ICE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher told The Wall Street Journal that "SuperDerivatives is an innovative developer of valuable derivatives data and technology, and will play a key role in extending our financial market clearing and data capabilities." SuperDerivatives currently has a large global presence. Its internal model is in frequent use by major financial institutions such as Citigroup, Barclay's, and Deutsche Bank. A number of high-tech companies, such as Microsoft and IBM, also use its product, as do investment houses and many business organizations in Israel. According to assessments in the capital market, SuperDerivatives was supposed to go public on Wall Street at over $1 billion, but it appears that the purchase offer was more attractive to its owners.
