Germans still don’t have the votes to win £21bn LSE deal

DEUTSCHE Boerse has less than a week to win shareholder backing for a takeover of the London Stock Exchange.

The German firm needs 60pc support for the deal – a figure it has already slashed from 75pc amid signs of growing opposition.

It must win this backing by Tuesday when an acceptance period will close under German takeover rules. But the flow of investors tendering their shares has almost dried up, with just 2.6pc more backers signalling their approval since Wednesday last week. The total stands at 55.6pc.

Investors are thought to be nervous after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

It has led to tough talk from regulators on the Continent about the terms of the deal, which would see DB and LSE’s joint headquarters based in London – outside the EU.

DB bosses are thought to have offered secret assurances they will tear up this promise after the takeover is complete.

They are also believed to have pledged to shift the City’s prized euro trading business to Germany, potentially leading to thousands of British job cuts. This has led to calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to step in and block the takeover as the first act in her new industrial strategy. And it seems to have done little to reassure DB shareholders, who are also concerned LSE is overpriced following the fall in the pound after the vote.

LSE’s owners have already backed the takeover, with 99.9pc in favour. Both sides call their £21bn deal a merger of equals, but the new company will report its profits in euros and DB shareholders will get a 54.4pc stake.

It will be led by German chief executive Carsten Kengeter.

Even if German watchdogs can be appeased and DB shareholders back the bid, a host of other regulators will need to do the same. France, Belgium and Portugal have all said they fear the deal will harm domestic markets, and the increasingly interventionist European Commission might decide the proposal was anti-competitive.

British experts have raised concerns it could affect financial stability by creating a giant institution that is too big to fail.