London holds on to its information lead.

Byline: mark chillingworth

London holds on to its information lead

' analysis

European stock exchanges, the US Nasdaq and various global investment corporations have all tried to buy the London Stock Exchange in the last two years. Scratch below the surface of those deals and it becomes clear that the would-be buyers are trying to gain control of a serious asset.

Among the jewels that sparkle so invitingly in the LSE's crown are its information and the systems that manage it. Simply put, the LSE has the world's best financial information management infrastructure.

Germany's Deutsche BA[paragraph]rse was the first to table a takeover bid, in December 2004, offering [pounds sterling]1.35bn. By January, Euronext, a consortium of the Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam stock exchanges, sought to acquire the LSE; again the deal was rebuffed.

By now acquisition interest was rising and Australia's Macquarie Bank joined the party. By early 2006, the US-based Nasdaq stock exchange put the most aggressive deal yet on the table, offering $4.2bn. When the LSE rejected that deal and mounted a [pounds sterling]250m share buyback to defend itself last month, Nasdaq threatened to launch a rival platform.