Jim Armitage: Rolet’s troubles could now come from across the Atlantic

Xavier Rolet must be spluttering into his glass of Chêne Bleu. Just when the London Stock Exchange’s wine-loving boss finds his defence strategy with Deutsche Börse in tatters, a giant US merger looms to make the LSE ever more vulnerable.

If Goldman Sachs’ deal advisers work their magic for Standard & Poor’s and it succeeds in its takeover plan for MSCI, the LSE’s FTSE indices, already the smallest of the big three index compilers, are left looking distinctly underpowered.

One of Rolet’s many canny takeovers during his years of building up the LSE was the purchase of Russell Investments.

He recognised the rise and rise of index-tracking funds was making the compilers of those indices ever more valuable. The Russell deal marked, he said, a “significant milestone” for the group.

But if the S&P deal comes off, that milestone will recede further in the US giant’s rear-view mirror. S&P-MSCI will be able to plough the merger’s cost savings into new products and better research.

It will also gain even deeper roots into the global fund management industry, and create a giant with commanding shares of markets in every corner of the investment globe: the US, Europe and MSCI’s huge strength: emerging markets.

How can the LSE respond? There are other index compilers that it might bolt on with acquisitions, but they are too small to make much of a difference.

It can try to compete on price, as it did in 2012 when it lured Vanguard to move 22 of its biggest funds from MSCI. But that hits profit margins.

All in all, this deal creates another headache to make Rolet yearn for retirement to his vineyards.

The leak of Donald Trump’s tax statement shows the American people two things. One: Trump is a hugely successful, if not brilliant, businessman. Two: he pays a huge amount of tax.

Yet despite that enviable PR, the White House states it is outraged at this “totally illegal” publication of his private details. Evil, evil journalists have attacked this poor victim of a president again with an intrusive exposé of his business genius and public-spiritedness.