The Nasdaq Stock Market said on Wednesday it had increased its stake in the London Stock Exchange to 22,7%.
The United States operator said in a statement released here that it had paid £128,4-million ($239,2-million) for an additional 10,3-million shares in the LSE, Europe’s biggest stock exchange.
”We are pleased to have increased our strategic stake in LSE through this significant purchase, which takes us through the important threshold of 20%,” Nasdaq president and chief executive Bob Greifeld said in the statement.
”We look forward to working constructively with LSE as its largest shareholder,” he added.
Nasdaq last month bought an initial 15% holding in the LSE less than two weeks after the British exchange had rejected as too low a 950-pence per share takeover proposal from the US company.
Nasdaq, which is dominated by US technology listings including online search engine Google, went on to increase its stake to 18,7% last week. – Sapa-AFP