Shame of the MPs silent on LSE takeover

Parliament WON’T quiz Germans over £21bn deal

A GERMAN takeover of the London Stock Exchange looks set to go unchallenged in Parliament.

Deutsche Boerse is seeking to seize control of the 215-year-old organisation in a deal worth £21bn.

It has been described as a move which abandons Britain’s national interest and leaves the City at the mercy of foreign predators. But despite an outpouring of anger at the bid, the Mail understands the Treasury Select Committee has dropped plans to call in bosses from either company.

With the clock ticking, it is now unlikely they will be asked to account for their actions in Parliament, although chairman Andrew Tyrie could still write to watchdogs and both companies.

It means that the bosses will escape a public grilling as to whether the deal is in the best interests of the UK.

Deutsche and LSE have described it as a ‘merger of equals’.

But the new company will report its profits in euros, shareholders in Frankfurt-based Deutsche will get a 54.4pc controlling stake and its chief executive Carsten Kengeter will be in charge.

It follows criticism from a string of City grandees and analysts’ warnings of shareholder disquiet.

Lord Myners, a former Treasury minister who has served on the board of several major companies, previously raised fears that British taxpayers could be left to foot the bill if the new institution collapsed.

‘I don’t think regulators have fully thought through how they would handle a failing central clearing house,’ he said.

John Longworth, who was ousted as director general of the British Chambers of Commerce after daring to publicly back Brexit, has also voiced opposition to the takeover.

The Vote Leave board member said the Government risked ‘allowing willy-nilly the acquisition of a strategic asset without any reference to competition authorities or any considerations of the impact it may have on the City’.

And Conservative peer Lord Tebbit said Margaret Thatcher would never have allowed the selloff to happen.

The former MP for Chingford, who served as Conservative chairman during her premiership, said the move was ‘against our national interest’ and designed to tie us into the European project.

Deutsche had been facing competition from Intercontinental Exchange, the American owner of New York’s trading hub. But it backed away from mounting a rival bid earlier this week after facing sustained hostility from LSE’s French boss Xavier Rolet.

The Americans said there had been a ‘disappointing level of engagement’ from their target’s board.

This was denied by LSE, although Rolet had publicly branded ICE as a ‘slash and burn’ organisation when it first declared an interest.

LSE’s share price slumped on the news and expert market-watchers believe investors feel the deal has been mishandled.

Credit Suisse said shareholders would ‘demand further clarification’ about the lack of information given to ICE.

And it gave the Deutsche takeover just a 50/50 chance of completion due to tougher EU competition rules which could come into force in 2018.

The Government could also choose to step in. Business Secretary Sajid Javid has rarely-exercised powers to block deals which are not in the public interest.

Leading Tory MP Sir Bill Cash has previously urged him to act, saying the Germans were seeking to undermine the City.

Sources close to the minister said he was likely to decide what to do after regulators had their say. LSE shares closed down 0.69pc, or 18p, at 2596p.