New York Stock Exchange owner secures financing for £10bn London Stock Exchange takeover bid to rival proposed Deutsche Boerse merger
The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is understood to have secured funding for a £10bn takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
ICE, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, confirmed it was considering a bid in early March shortly after the LSE said it was in merger talks with Deutsche Boerse.
The LSE and Deutsche Boerse unveiled the details of their £21bn merger last month. At this point, the 29 March deadline for a rival ICE bid no longer applied.
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And Sky News has now reported that ICE has secured funding from Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ for a £10bn bid for the LSE. Other lenders are expected to be added to the syndicate.
ICE, LSE, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Mitsubishi UFJ have declined to comment.
The details have emerged shortly after LSE chief executive Xavier Rolet dismissed ICE as a “slash and burn” organisation.
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In an interview with the Telegraph, Rolet said: "I don’t want just anyone, particularly not some 'slash and burn’ type organisation, to come in and kill all of the stuff we’ve done over the last few years."
He added: “It is not a company based in Atlanta… that is going to worry about the financing of European industry… It’s just not going to be part of their strategy.”