The Chicago Stock Exchange, one of the oldest financial institutions in the country, has been acquired by China-based Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group.

Casin founder and chairman Shengju Lu says his company wanted to acquire the 134-year-old trading floor in order to develop financial markets in China and bring exciting Chinese growth companies to US investors. The acquisition comes amid an unparalleled international shopping spree by Chinese investors, and it's a true trophy buy for Casin Group, which will gain a foothold in America's $22 trillion equity market.

Here's a photo of the old Chicago Stock Exchange trading floor from 1928.

The Chinese investor group started in 1997 as a real estate development company in Chongqing, in Southwest China; it soon expanded into the environmental and industrial industries, acquiring stakes in banks and insurers.

Casin Group is focused on development, the environmental protection industry and municipal infrastructure investment and construction.

Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed, but an anonymous source told Bloomberg the deal values the Chicago Stock Exchange at less than $100M. The buyout is expected to be completed in the second half of the year.

The exchange, which trades around 8,000 equity securities, is owned in part by a group that includes Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase.