Nasdaq announced earlier this week that it will consider selling its 31% interest in the London Stock Exchange, but most likely not to a single purchaser. The sale would end Nasdaq’s 18 month-long attempt to buy the LSE, a goal that has been continuously opposed by the LSE’s management.
Investors bent on competitive global trading (or at least competitive Euro-American trading) will have to continue to wait for the world’s second trans-Atlantic stock exchange following NYSE Group Inc.’s $14 billion purchase of Paris-based Euronext NV in April. But maybe the wait won’t be too long. Some commentators suggest Nasdaq wants to sell its LSE stake in order to outbid Borse Dubai, owner of two Dubai stock exchanges, for Sweden’s OMX market. The current bid is close to $4 billion.
