The Nasdaq has revealed its Pound 2.7bn hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange after having two previous takeover approaches rejected. In November the
LSE rejected the £2.7bn US bid, saying it undervalued the firm.
LSE also turned down a request for a meeting from Nasdaq, which has upped its stake in
LSE to 28.75%.
The Nasdaq is now posting out its offer document to LSE shareholders, offering £12.43 a share, and says it has borrowed $5.1bn to fund any takeover. A Nasdaq statement said: “We intend to finance the acquisition by borrowing up to $5.1bn, a portion of which would be used to repay our existing senior secured indebtedness in full, and issuing $775m of preferred stock.”
The final date for shareholder acceptance of the Nasdaq offer by LSE shareholders is 11 January, 2007. Shares in the London stock market company have surged by more than 110% over the past year amid ongoing speculation it would be subject to a takeover offer. In March, Nasdaq dropped a proposed £2.43bn ($4.2bn) bid for the exchange after the LSE rejected its advance.
The US firm is the latest in a long line of foreign suitors to approach the London market. German market Deutsche Boerse, Australian investment bank Macquarie and the pan-European exchange Euronext have all abandoned offers for LSE since December 2004.
The LSE has resisted approaches saying it can continue to grow alone, while the UK government has said it is neutral as to the nationality of LSE’s owner. But analysts and market observers have said that the Nasdaq is in a strong position and stock exchanges will need to merge if they want to keep on growing and offer a wide-range of global financial services.
© BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article