Probe into Boerse boss ‘to be dropped’

PROSECUTORS in Germany look set to drop insider-trading charges against Deutsche Boerse chief executive Carsten Kengeter.

Investigators had been looking into whether the 50-year-old had bought shares in the marketplace organiser despite knowing the firm was in talks to buy the London Stock Exchange.

But Frankfurt’s public prosecutor has offered to drop an investigation into Kengeter if the firm accepts two fines totalling £9.3m. Deutsche Boerse – whose planned merger with the LSE was abandoned earlier this year – said it was reviewing the matter and ‘continues to believe the allegations made are unfounded in all respects’.

Kengeter’s reputation has been damaged by his failed attempt to land the LSE. The deal fell apart when it was blocked by European regulators – much to the relief of critics in the UK worried about a key part of the City’s infrastructure falling into German hands.