(14 February 2007 – UK) The London Stock Exchange, which was a target for Macquarie Bank in late 2005/early 2006, has batted away another hostile takeover attempt from Nasdaq for £2.9 billion and looks set to form an alliance with Tokyo.President of the Tokyo stock exchange, Taizo Nishimuro, is expected to fly to London and hold talks with the LSE this month.
The Tokyo stock exchange has already inked an operational alliance agreement with the New York Stock Exchange and is tipped to seek a similar arrangement with London.
The Nasdaq bid collapsed last week when less than one percent of LSE shareholders accepted the £12.43 a share offer from the US stockmarket.
The LSE said now that it was free of “the distraction of ill-considered approaches…which fail to understand the value of the business” it would look for collaborative partnerships.