Irish stockbroking firms are in line for a windfall of around £3.5 million (€4.4 million) if the hostile £822 million sterling (€1.3 billion) bid from OM Gruppen, the Stockholm Stock Exchange, is successful. Most Irish stockbroking firms are among the 300 shareholders in the London Stock Exchange (LSE), which have to decide between the planned merger with Frankfurt's Deutsche Borse and the hostile approach from OM Gruppen.

All the LSE shareholders have equal shareholdings apart from a few brokers who acquired other brokers who had stakes in the exchange. That means the big Irish brokers will receive exactly the same as the small stockbroking partnerships if the Swedish bid succeeds. The bid from OM Gruppen is equivalent to £27.15 sterling per share - £7 sterling in cash and the balance in OM Gruppen shares.

While £3.5 million would be negligible to the big bank-owned Irish stockbroking companies, it would represent a significant windfall for the second-tier firms like Dolmen Butler Briscoe, Bloxham and BCP. And partners in the stockbroking partnerships like Campbell O'Connor and Morrogh would be in line for a very significant windfall.

Others to benefit would include Garban Ireland, the interdealer broker in the Government bond market, IIU Stockbrokers, the offshoot of Mr Dermot Desmond's IIU group and AIB Corporate Finance which has separate LSE membership from AIB's Goodbody's stockbroking subsidiary.

The proceeds for LSE shareholders could be even more substantial if the OM Gruppen bid fails and also if the iX merger with Frankfurt is rejected on September 14th. That could trigger a bidding war for the LSE, analysts have said.