LSE fights off yet another takeover bid

Rival abandons £32 billion raid

the hong Kong stock exchange has ditched its £32bn bid for its London rival, dousing fears of chinese influence over one of the UK’s mostprized financial institutions.

Four weeks after tabling its audacious offer, the hong Kong firm said it was ‘ disappointed’ officials at the London stock exchange had refused to hold formal talks.

If the cash-and- shares deal had gone ahead it would have created a stock exchange powerhouse, with the hong Kong government having a 3pc stake through its existing shareholding in the local exchange.

while the Lse’s board, chaired by former experian boss don Robert, opposed the ‘fundamentally flawed’ offer, shareholders were thought to be demanding a higher price.

the bid valued each Lse share at £83.61 – in a mix of cash and shares – and would have the left the Lse with a 41pc stake in the combined firm. the hong Kong exchange cannot bid again for six months under takeover rules but chief executive charles Li said in a blog he thought the strategic rationale was compelling.

‘despite a huge amount of work and discussions with regulators and extensive shareholder discussions, the level of engagement from Lse led us to conclude that the continued pursuit of a combination of the two businesses would not be in the best interests of its own shareholders,’ he wrote.

the offer came amid political unrest in hong Kong and Brexit talks. It was the latest in a long line of takeovers and merger bids involving the Lse, which was demutualised 18 years ago when its own shares listed on the exchange.

there have been three failed bids to merge with deutsche Boerse and it has been in the sights of swedish exchange OM and Nasdaq in the Us.

the Lse will press on with the £22bn takeover of data provider Refinitiv, and expects to hold a shareholder meeting to vote on that next month. Its shares fell 5.8pc, or 432p, to 7020p.