The Chicago Stock Exchange may be in the process of selling off a stake in its operations, according to several news sources, including the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. A Wall Street Journal article can be found here.

The timing of this seems ideal, given how much activity has been taking place in the securities and derivative exchange industry. Over the past 18 months, the market has witnessed several capital raising and merger related transactions that point to the attention given to financial exchanges. These transactions include:

• The IPO of optionsXpress
• The IPO of the International Securities Exchange
• The IPO of the Chicago Board of Trade
• The IPO of the Intercontinental Exchange
• The continued success of the CME's shares
• The announced merger of Archipelago and the NYSE
• The merger of NASDAQ and Instinet
• The $7.5 million investment (10%) in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange by Morgan Stanley. This was following investments in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange by Citi, CSFB,UBS, Merrill, and hedge-fund Citadel.
• The investment made in the NYMEX by General Atlantic
• Rumors that the CBOE will be going public

It goes without saying that this is a crazy time in the securities space. The above list does not even mention the consolidation in the broker-dealer space (E-Trade & Harris, E-Trade & Brown, Ameritrade & TD).

In a separate Reuters article on the Chicago Stock Exchange situation, it was noted that the investments from the potential investors (Goldman, Bear, and BofA) would add up to a minority stake in the exchange. It is important to note that last year the exchange, often called the CSX, converted from a not-for-profit company owned by members into a wholly-owned unit of CHX Holdings, a for-profit Delaware stock corp.