Macquarie Bank made a £1.5 billion sterling hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange (LSE) today, but the LSE rejected as "wholly inadequate".
Australia's Macquarie said it was offering 580 pence a share in cash for Europe's biggest share market, 6 per cent below the LSE's current share price.
Confirmation of the bid reignited speculation of a takeover battle for the LSE, which has attracted interest from Deutsche Boerse, Euronext (operator of the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon exchanges) and Sweden's OMX.
The LSE rejected the bid, saying: "Macquarie's offer is at a discount to the LSE's standalone value before any takeover premium.
"They [Macquarie] are still in the game, they are still interested. It keeps it bubbling over until we get more clarity on the Euronext situation as far as the Competition Commission goes," said an LSE shareholder.
The commission has signalled that it plans to publish its final acceptance of Euronext and Deutsche Boerse's measures to limit control of their clearing houses by the end of February.
Some analysts have said they think the New York Stock Exchange will also get drawn into a bid battle.
The LSE has long been viewed as a bid target after bouts of consolidation among other exchanges, and London has already made abortive attempts to link with Deutsche Boerse.