NASDAQ Stock Market Inc made its second bid for London Stock Exchange Group Plc this year, an unsolicited offer that values Europe's biggest equity market at about £2.7 billion (US$5.1 billion).
NASDAQ, the largest US electronic equity exchange, bid 1,243 pence a share in cash for the 75 percent of LSE it doesn't already own, the company said in a statement today. The US market bought an additional 7.1 million shares and said it's seeking a meeting with LSE's chairman Chris Gibson-Smith to secure a recommendation of its offer.
LSE chief executive officer Clara Furse rebuffed a £2.4 billion pound bid from NASDAQ in March.
The US exchange returned the following month and began accumulating a stake of about 25 percent in LSE. The London market had been the object of bids by Deutsche Boerse AG, Sydney-based investment bank Macquarie Bank Ltd and Euronext NV since December 2004.
"There is only one LSE and there is some rarity value there," said Roger Nightingale, a strategist at Millennium Global Investments in London, which oversees US$4.3 billion.
"Also, stock exchanges are making a lot of money these days so it may well be worth it," he said.
Securities markets worldwide have announced about US$35 billion of combinations over the past two years as they seek to meet growing demand by investors for low cost, electronic trading of multiple securities in different time zones.
Last week, Deutsche Boerse scrapped its offer to buy Euronext, clearing the way for NYSE Group Inc, NASDAQ's larger US rival, to acquire the Paris-based exchange and create the first trans-Atlantic stock market.
In another sign competition is set to intensify, seven investment banks including Citigroup Inc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc, are planning to start their own pan-European equity trading system to challenge traditional bourses such as LSE.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
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