(Updates with investor comment, member meeting date, beginning in fourth paragraph.)

BOCA RATON, Fla. -(Dow Jones)- The parent of the Chicago Board Options Exchange on Thursday moved ahead with plans for a long-delayed initial public offering that could take place by June.

The world's fourth-largest derivatives exchange filed a prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $300 million, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. serving as global coordinator.

The parallel demutualization and IPO of CBOE Holdings Inc. could also spark a bid battle for the prized exchange operator, which is expected to canvass its member-owners and vote on the management-backed plan next month.

A member meeting has been scheduled for March 18 to discuss upcoming steps, including a vote on the demutualization plan, according to persons familiar with the situation.

A member vote on conversion to shareholder ownership will be a "critical event" for the CBOE, said Thomas Caldwell, whose Toronto-based Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. is among the largest owners of CBOE seats.

"If [the vote] clears, then we're off to the races," said Caldwell, a longtime supporter of a public float for the CBOE.

The prospect of a payout helped drive up the value of the CBOE's 930 seats, with one selling for $2.95 million after a moratorium on trading was lifted earlier Thursday.

Seat prices--which topped $3 million apiece in 2008--have been rising in recent weeks, with one selling on Tuesday for $2.7 million.

The CBOE is the last large, member-owned U.S. financial exchange, its trek toward the public markets delayed by a yearslong legal battle that saw it miss out on a boom in exchange valuations, and by and a subsequent slide owing to the financial crisis.

The dispute hinged on a claim by members of the Chicago Board of Trade, which spun off the CBOE in 1973. The CBOT members argued that they were entitled to equity in a demutualized CBOE, an argument the CBOE initially rejected until agreeing in 2008 to a settlement that would give the CBOT members an 18% equity stake and $300 million in cash.

After a series of challenges, the settlement was finalized in early December, and the CBOE subsequently rushed to carry out a long-shelved plan to demutualize and float shares.

Analysts have valued the franchise between $2 billion and $5 billion, a price that hinges in part on whether a bid battle develops after an IPO.

The Chicago Board Of Trade and Nymex Holdings saw their share values double after their stock market listings before both were acquired by CME Group Inc. (CME), which is seen as a potential buyer of CBOE. IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) and NYSE Euronext (NYX) are also viewed by analysts as possible buyers.

Member-owners are expected to vote on the IPO plan within the next four to six weeks. They are being offered a $113.6 million special dividend after flotation to compensate for the loss of income from leasing their exchange access to traders.

"We will be meeting with our members in the coming days and months," said Chairman and CEO Bill Brodsky at a press event Thursday. "We will share more information with you as it's appropriate and permissible to do so." The exchange plans to retain the combined chairman and CEO role.

CBOE operates the largest U.S. options exchange as well as stock and futures platforms, and its value is boosted by a valuable franchise holding several exclusive licenses on options products, including the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, Wall Street's favorite "fear gauge."

The exchange revealed for the first time that the licenses accounted for 32% of its $314.5 million in transaction revenue last year.

It faces a legal challenge to its exclusive use of the licenses from rivals including the International Securities Exchange--a unit of Deutsche Borse AG (DB1.XE).

The company reported net profit of $106.5 million on revenue of $426 million in 2009.

(Doug Cameron and Nathan Becker contributed to this article.)

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