London Stock Exchange said this morning that it had received an approach from mainland European stock market Euronext.
'The approach is at an early stage and therefore does not require a response at this point. Discussions with Deutsche Borse and Euronext will continue,' the London exchange said in a statement.
Last week, London Stock Exchange rejected a £1.3 billion offer from Deutsche Boerse.
The LSE is Europe's biggest stock market and one of the world's oldest exchanges, with stocks worth a total of £1.4 trillion. More than 300 firms worldwide trade on the LSE, which last year handled morethan 59 million transactions - an average of 234,000 trades a day.
There has been extensive speculation about a possible takeover of the much sought-after company since an attempted merger with Deutsche Boerse failed in 2000.
Pan-European stock exchange Euronext was formed in 2000 through the merger of the Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris exchanges. Nearly 1,400 companies - a quarter of them foreign - are listed on the exchange.
It is seen by some analysts as a more natural fit with LSE. In 2002 it acquired London-based international derivatives market Liffe.
