Nasdaq puts up for sale London exchange stock

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Aug 21, 2007 | by New York Times

LONDON -- Nasdaq on Monday put its stake in the London Stock Exchange up for sale, putting an end to a year-and-a-half attempt to buy the rival that has included a hostile bid, a dawn-raid and a 48- page public defense circular.

Abandoning a plan to buy the LSE would allow Nasdaq to focus on winning a bidding contest against Borse Dubai for OMX of Sweden, some analysts said. Nasdaq, the second-biggest U.S. equity exchange after NYSE Euronext, in May made an offer for OMX after two unsuccessful bids for the LSE. Borse Dubai last week topped Nasdaq's bid for OMX.

"There is a growing frustration at Nasdaq about LSE's management rebuffing their offers and finding it next to impossible to gain influence even through their shareholding," said David Dodds, an investment analyst at SVM Asset Management in England. "OMX remains their focus."

Robert Greifeld, the chief executive of Nasdaq, has been struggling to get a foothold in Europe and had to watch while rival NYSE Group merged with Euronext to form a global stock market exchange. His attempts to buy London Stock Exchange were rejected by an iron-willed Clara Furse, the chief executive of LSE, who had repeatedly refused to meet with Greifeld, arguing that London's stock exchange, one of the biggest in Europe, was better off on its own. The battle left Greifeld with a battered reputation and a minority stake in the LSE that did not give him a board seat and will be diluted once the LSE completes its agreed takeover of Borsa Italiana.

Nasdaq said Monday that it may look for a buyer for its 31 percent stake in London Stock Exchange and use about $1 billion of the proceeds to retire debt and the rest to buy back shares.