UBS Investment Bank announced yesterday that it has entered into a binding agreement to purchase the commodity index business of AIG Financial Products Corp., including AIG's rights to the DJ-AIG Commodity Index, which is used as the benchmark for a number of broad commodity ETFs. 

The purchase price for the transaction is $15 million, payable upon closing, and additional payments of up to $135 million over the following 18 months based upon future earnings of the purchased business. The closing is subject to a number of regulatory and other conditions. No assurances can be given that any such conditions will be satisfied.

The transaction is expected to close by May 2009.