The London Stock exchange, reminds us a little of Manchester United. Like the famous football club, the users of its product are, or in the case of the football team, were, its shareholders.
And when a hostile bid was mounted, these users were not happy. But that is where the similarities end. Fans of Manchester United were no match for Malcolm Glaser, but when it comes to the LSE, its users are the ladies and gentlemen of the city, fund mangers for example. So when, within 24 hours of the story breaking, the likes of Threadneedle Asset Management and Scottish Widows said they were against the Macquarie Bank’s bid, it seemed as if the writing for the hostile bid was on the wall.
And sure enough, the graffiti came down yesterday, and the writing was promoted from supposition, to fact, as the Australian bank confirmed it was pulling out.
Not everybody could figure out how the Banks’ other assets, such as Toll roads and airports were complementary to that august institution known as the London Stock Exchange. Add to that the fact that shares in the LSE have increased 50% since the bid was firstly declared, and take into account the promised doubling in dividends, then it would appear the Macquarie bid never had a hope.
So with the Aussies out of the race and internal opposition from shareholders forcing Deutsche Boerse to pull out, the LSE is running out of suitors. There’s still Euronext, which controls a number of European exchanges including London’s Life market, but then again the LSE, and its boss Clara Furse, are quite happy to stay independent, and no doubt, its shareholders/customers are happy with that.
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