London Stock Exchange set to trigger bidding war for Norway's Oslo Bors

THE London Stock Exchange Group is poised to enter a bidding war to buy Norway’s main trading bourse, the Standard can reveal.

The stock-market group has enlisted a top City bank to consider how a deal for Oslo Børs could be put together, a source close to the company said.

The move would see LSEG return to dealmaking after its failed attempt to merge with Deutsche Börse in 2017.

Any bid would have to rival Euronext’s €625 million (£551 million) offer, which was tabled last week. The Paris-headquartered group is trying to take full control after purchasing 50.3% of the shares in December.

But the Euronext offer is not a done deal as the Oslo board has said it is open to other bids. Sources claim several parties are “circling” and it has been reported that New York-headquartered Nasdaq is also eyeing the asset as it already owns the main exchanges in Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

Oslo’s two largest shareholders DNB Bank and Kommunal Landspensjonskasse have said they are waiting for the board’s recommendation before taking a decision.

LSEG has close relations with the Norwegian exchange, providing the technology for the Oslo Børs equity, fixed-income and derivatives markets since 2009.

The source added that a successful bid would mark an “easy win” for new chief executive David Schwimmer, who joined the group in August last year. The deal would face less regulatory scrutiny as Norway is not part of the European Union.

If LSEG were to snap up the asset it would mean it could put its failed merger with Deutsche Börse behind it. That was shot down by European regulators in March 2017 on competition grounds and eventually led to then-chief executive Xavier Rolet being ousted months later after a public spat with chairman Donald Brydon.

Rolet’s eight-and-a-half-year stint at LSEG ended acrimoniously after Brydon put pressure on the French businessman to leave.