(14 November 2005 – UK) Macquarie Bank and Goldman Sachs have teamed up to launch a bid for the London Stock Exchange, according to reports in the UK.In August, the Australian investment bank said it would pay more than ₤1 billion in cash for the LSE as part of a consortium.
At the time, the bank faced competition from OM Gruppen, which owns the Swedish stock exchange, London’s Euronext and Deutsche Bourse.
Deutsche Bourse put in a ₤1.3 billion bid for the 900 year old LSE back in March but has since withdrawn from the race, leaving Paris based Euronext and Macquarie as the frontrunners.
Macquarie engaged Goldman Sachs as an advisor earlier this month but reports says Goldman has agreed to inject equity into the bid for the LSE which has a market value in the vicinity of ₤1.5 billion.
In October, the UK financial media reported that Macquarie had received financial backing from European investment bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.