Hong Kong exchange makes £29.6bn bid for London Stock Exchange

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has made an audacious £29.6 billion bid for the London Stock Exchange (LSE), according to Bloomberg.

The “ambitious and far-reaching” deal was considered for several months according to a statement by the stock exchange’s CEO Charles Li.

“These are two major security exchanges in the world,” said Ronald Wan, chief executive at Partners Capital International in Hong Kong.

“A takeover from Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, could be seen as a takeover from China. It won’t be easy to clear all the regulatory hurdles – the deal is super politically sensitive.”

The LSE and the Hong Kong stock exchange have been involved in a number of merger deals over the past few years.

The London exchange failed in its most recent bid to join forces with the Deutsche Boerse while the Hong Kong exchange acquired the London Metal Exchange in 2012 for £1.4 billion.

Hong Kong has been embroiled in political turmoil in recent months. Mass protests, also known as the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, have been taking place across various districts of Hong Kong with widespread disorder.

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