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Heyman, which is controlled by US real-estate tycoon Samuel Heyman, built the stake via derivatives through Heyman Investment and Vesper Holdings, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. The investment group paid as much as 12.90 pounds per share, the Financial Times reported, well above the 12.43 'final offer' from the US stock market operator Nasdaq that the LSE has rejected. In a separate filing, the Scottish investment firm Baillie Gifford and Company said it sold 2.2 million LSE shares at between 12.77 and 12.90 pounds.
Trading in LSE shares closed Tuesday at 13.01 pounds, an increase of 0.77 percent. Meanwhile, several hedge funds have also increased their LSE stakes and said they were likely to press the exchange's chief executive Clara Furse to reconsider its stance and hold talks with Nasdaq within weeks, the FT added.
The funds are hoping such talks would lead to the emergence of a second bidder, because Nasdaq - which now holds 28.75 percent of the LSE - has reportedly indicated it would consider raising its offer if either the LSE board agreed to discuss it or a competing bidder entered the fray.
Overnight, Nasdaq chief executive Robert Greifeld Greifeld described his company's offer as 'fair and full'. 'They are the crown jewel of the European market places,' Greifeld said of the LSE in a conference call with reporters. 'We believe this is a powerful asset that is a natural partner with the Nasdaq. There is an increasingly clear path to the end game.'