Quashing rumors of a link up with the Australian investment bank Macquarie Bank Ltd. to bid for the London Stock Exchange Plc, Computershare has categorically denied that it is interested in a takeover of the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Denying any intention of buying the 300-year old exchange, Computershare released a statement on Friday saying, "Computershare wishes to confirm that it has no intention of investing in or acting in concert with any consortium or any other offer for the London Stock Exchange".
Earlier, British media had speculated that the share registry group had shaken hands with a Macquarie Bank consortium which, according to London paper The Daily Telegraph, had concrete plans to approach the LSE with a bid within 10 days and look to overturn the decision of rejecting a 530p-a-share offer from the German based Deutsche Börse.
Macquarie, which employs about 350 people in London had said that it was looking to bid for the Europe's largest stock market operator but was interested going in partnership with those who had some experience in exchanges apart from private equity firms, and said that any offer would be in cash. Macquarie has always kept ahead of purchases courtesy its strong balance sheet.
The competition commission is looking at bids for the LSE by Deutsche Börse and pan-European exchange Euronext. The commission would be announcing a decision late in November. In the backdrop of this news, shares in Computershare fell 0.9 percent to A$6.52 by afternoon.
Posted
on : Sat, 08 Oct 2005 19:00 GMT | General News
By : Rob Davis
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