THE London Stock Exchange (LSE) is reportedly eyeing acquisitions in a bid to maintain its independence. The company had disclosed its plans to return £250 million to shareholders.
The Takeover Panel is said to be putting up a "put up or shut up" notice for Macquarie, the Australian investment bank. This was because Macquarie, which had announced its interest in acquiring LSE, in August, has remained silent ever since.
Macquarie Bank Ltd had appointed Goldman Sachs as its financial adviser for the takeover bid of the LSE. It had approached the German bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein for financing the bid.
However, some analysts expect that Macquarie Bank Ltd would come up with a hostile bid this week itself. This comes in the wake of the news that the New York Stock Exchange led by John Thain is also considering a takeover bid for the LSE.
Meanwhile, Euronext, which also evinced interest in taking over LSE, is facing pressure from shareholders such as hedge fund Atticus Capital to scrap its plans and instead go for a tie-up Frankfurt-based Deutsche Börse, according to reports from media.
Euronext Chief Executive Jean-Francois Theodore is therefore expected “to meet with Deutsche Boerse's new Chief Executive Reto Francioni and will raise the prospect of a possible merger.” The shareholders of both companies apparently favour a Franco-German alliance to take on London and New York.
Euronext is to report on its performance for the Q3 on November 15, while Boerse is expected to publish on Monday a third-quarter trading update.
According to analysts, any bidder would need to cough up 700 pence -a-share in order to buy the LSE, which is way above the 530 pence offered in December.
Posted
on : Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:40 GMT | Investments News
By : Pippa Fielding
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