CBOE Eyes IPO

The Chicago Board Options Exchange, one of the last big exchanges in private hands, is looking to become more shareholder friendly.

The CBOE is planning to file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating its plans to "demutualize" -- that is, to change from a membership organization to one governed by shareholders. The CBOE says the registration should be filed within the next two weeks.

The news about the CBOE's potential plans for an IPO comes on the same day that the American Stock Exchange took a similar step toward an initial public offering.

The CBOE is currently a mutually owned membership organization. In order to sell shares, the exchange will become a subsidiary of a new holding company, CBOE Holdings. CBOE memberships will be converted into shares of the new company. Goldman Sachs is advising the exchange on the process.

One thing that could delay the 33-year-old options exchange from going public is ongoing lawsuit with CBOT Holdings(BOT Quote - Cramer on BOT - Stock Picks), the parent of the Chicago Board of Trade and the creator of the CBOE.

The two exchanges are disagreeing over certain exercise rights that the CBOT holds and how the rights will be valued when the CBOE's demutualization process is complete.

The 158-year-old CBOT, which is in the process of being acquired by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange(CME Quote - Cramer on CME - Stock Picks), filed a lawsuit last summer so that the CBOE could not limit CBOT members' participation as the exchange went through a demutualization process.