Germans poised for Stock Exchange bid

THE battle for the London Stock Exchange starts in earnest this week, with the Frankfurt-based Deutsche Borse expected to launch its long-awaited bid.

An offer of at least 530p a share, valuing the LSE at £1.35 billion, would face growing opposition from the Borse's base.

Frankfurt mayor Petra Roth said on Friday she would be 'very alarmed' at jobs moving to London if the takeover succeeded.

'If it comes to reducing jobs I would be most alarmed,' she said. 'That must not happen.'

But the Borse has already made it clear that it plans to move management of its cash and derivatives market to London if it is successful.

Leading shareholders in the Borse have already said that the indicative offer is too high and a merger would not create sufficient cost savings between the two businesses to justify the takeover.

Paris-based rival Euronext would respond to any bid with an offer of its own, and there is a growing realisation at the Borse and Euronext, that a successful bid for the LSE would result in a referral to European and British competition regulators.