Stotler Says It Has Conditional Bid

A commodities brokerage headed by Chicago Board of Trade Chairman Karsten Mahlmann may have found its financial savior, the firm’s parent company indicated Thursday.

Stotler Group Inc., one of the nation’s 10 biggest commodities brokerages, said it had accepted an unidentified investor’s “conditional offer to purchase a substantial equity interest” in it.

Mahlmann is managing partner of Stotler Group’s principal subsidiary, Stotler & Co., a large, old-line trading company that recently ran afoul of the federal government’s minimum capital requirements.

Chicago-based Stotler Group, a publicly traded company, confirmed in its announcement that Stotler & Co. has brought itself into compliance with the capital requirements.

The statement said the offer was subject to approval by the investor’s board. The deal will die if such approval is not granted by 11 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, Stotler Group said.

Stotler Group confirmed Wednesday’s Board of Trade announcement that it has brought itself into compliance with a Commodity Futures Trading Commission rule requiring futures brokerages to maintain, in a separate account, liquid assets equal to 4% of customer funds. The exchange had ordered Stotler to boost its capital or face restrictions on its trading activities.