The London Stock Exchange, reeling from a recent wave of shareholder criticism of its strategy for the future, has hinted at a possible link-up with the US technology-laden Nasdaq stock market.
Speaking to business leaders at the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry in Birmingham, LSE chairman Don Cruickshank said that the LSE "may well build something with Nasdaq."
Cruickshank said the London exchange, which was forced to shelve its ill-fated plans to merge with the Frankfurt Deutsche Boerse in September, was the number-one choice of Nasdaq's potential European partners.
But he remained tight-lipped about the details of any possible alliance with Nasdaq, saying he could not elaborate because the LSE remains the target of a hostile takeover offer from the small Swedish group OM Gruppen.
Many LSE shareholders welcomed the OM bid because it forced the London market to abandon its controversial plans to create the iX market in a link-up with Deutsche Boerse.
But the OM bid, which values Europe's largest stock market at £1.06 billion appears unlikely to succeed. In late October, the Swedish minnow admitted that it had received the support of less than 3% of LSE shareholders for its bid, which expires on Friday.
The admission followed a pledge by the LSE in October to reposition its tech-rich market, techMARK, and its small companies market, AIM, in order to buttress its position in Europe.
