ICE and Gasunie Announce Launch of ICE Endex

LONDON, AMSTERDAM and GRONINGEN, The Netherlands, March 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global markets and clearing houses, and Gasunie, a leading European gas infrastructure company, today announced the launch of ICE Endex, following receipt of competition clearance by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in the U.K. and the declaration of no-objection from the Dutch Ministry of Finance. The transaction completed on March 26, 2013.

The launch of ICE Endex follows the demerger of energy exchange APX-ENDEX into two separate entities: a power spot and clearing entity and a derivatives and spot gas entity, which took place on March 1, 2013. ICE Endex, of which ICE will own 79.12% and Gasunie 20.88%, is based on the derivatives and spot gas business of former APX-ENDEX.

ICE Endex will provide a liquid, transparent and widely accessible continental European trading hub for natural gas and power derivatives, gas balancing markets and gas storage services, including the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) Virtual Trading Point in the Netherlands, the UK On-the-Day Commodity Market (OCM) and the Belgian Zeebrugge Trading Point (ZTP).

The execution of ICE Endex derivatives products will migrate to ICE's widely accessible and state-of-the-art trading platform and trades will be cleared by ICE Clear Europe, ICE's European clearing house later in 2013 subject to regulatory approval. The ICE Endex natural gas and power derivatives contracts will trade and clear alongside ICE's portfolio of more than 800 global energy products further enhancing transparency and capital efficiency for market participants.

ICE Endex Holding B.V. is based in Amsterdam and one of its subsidiaries ENDEX Derivatives B.V. retains a licence to operate a regulated market in the Netherlands. The company is co-headed by Pieter Schuurs and Lucas Schmeddes, as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), respectively. Schuurs and Schmeddes were formerly COO and CFO of APX-ENDEX. The following ICE and Gasunie representatives will be supervisory board directors of ICE Endex: David Peniket, President, ICE Futures Europe; Claire Wright, Head of Finance, ICE Futures Europe; Ulco Vermeulen, Director, Business Development and Participations, Gasunie. Jacques Lafond, the former President and CEO of Total Gas & Power Ltd has agreed to serve as one of two independent members of ICE Endex Holding B.V.'s supervisory board. The second independent member will be announced in due course.

"The launch of ICE Endex in conjunction with Gasunie significantly strengthens our ability to serve participants in the continental European natural gas and power markets. We will bring our experience in the regulated North American and U.K. natural gas markets to establish and grow liquidity for natural gas hubs in continental Europe," said David Peniket, President and COO of ICE Futures Europe.

"We regard our agreement with ICE as an important achievement, because it serves all stakeholders in this market. Gasunie and ICE share a commitment to further develop a liquid, transparent and secure gas market for customers in Europe and around the world. This is a positive development for traders, suppliers and consumers in the gas market," said Paul van Gelder, CEO of Gasunie.

"We are pleased to expand our business with the support of two strong partners. The structure of ICE Endex will allow us to fully leverage the unique strengths and expertise of both shareholders while maintaining our focus on the development of European energy markets and local customers," said Pieter Schuurs, President of ICE Endex.

About ICE Endex
ICE Endex is a continental European spot and derivatives market for trading natural gas and also offers trading for power and biomass futures products, as well as natural gas storage facilities. ICE Endex is a joint initiative between IntercontinentalExchange, a leading operator of global markets and clearing houses, and Gasunie, the Dutch based cross-border gas infrastructure company. The company was formed in 2013 when the two companies acquired the gas and derivatives business of the former APX-ENDEX.  ICE Endex is the home of trading around the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) Virtual Trading Point in the Netherlands, continental Europe's leading natural gas trading hub.

References to ICE Endex include the following entities: ICE Endex Holding B.V., ENDEX Gas B.V., ENDEX Derivatives B.V., and ENDEX Gas Spot Ltd.

About IntercontinentalExchange
IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) is a leading operator of regulated exchanges and clearing houses serving the risk management needs of global markets for agricultural, credit, currency, emissions, energy and equity index products. www.theice.com. The following are trademarks of IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. and/or its affiliated companies: IntercontinentalExchange, ICE, ICE and block design, ICE Futures Europe, ICE Clear Europe, ICE Clear Canada, ICE Clear US, ICE Clear Credit, ICE Futures U.S., and ICE OTC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information regarding registered trademarks owned by IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. and/or its affiliated companies, see https://www.theice.com/terms.jhtml

About Gasunie
Gasunie (N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie) is a European gas infrastructure company. Gasunie's network ranks among the largest high pressure gas pipeline grids in Europe, consisting of over 15,000 kilometers of pipeline in the Netherlands and northern Germany, dozens of installations and approximately 1,300 gas receiving stations. The annual gas throughput totals approximately 125 billion cubic meters. Gasunie offers transport services via its subsidiaries Gasunie Transport Services B.V. (GTS) in the Netherlands and Gasunie Deutschland in Germany. With its cross-border gas infrastructure and its services Gasunie facilitates TTF, which has developed into a leading and strongly growing European gas trading hub. The company also offers other services in the gas infrastructure field, including gas storage and LNG.

Safe Harbor Statement
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding IntercontinentalExchange's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, as filed with the SEC on February 6, 2013.

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SOURCE IntercontinentalExchange

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