CME "confident" CBOT $11.6 bln deal will get done

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Craig Donohue, chief executive of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings CME.N said that shareholders at CBOT Holdings BOT.N are "very strongly embracing" improved merger terms announced on Friday.

"There has been an absolutely overwhelming response from CBOT shareholders," Donohue told Reuters in a telephone interview. "This is a great development."

CBOT members and shareholders and CME shareholders will wrap up voting on Monday on CME's plan to buy the Chicago Board of Trade's parent for about $11.6 billion, including a one-time special dividend to be paid by CBOT.

The deal would put the numbers one and two U.S. futures marts together to create the world's largest derivatives exchange.

"It's up to the shareholders. I don't want to jinx it," Donohue said of the voting. "But suffice to say the response has been great. We're very, very confident."