Interest in the London Metal Exchange as a takeover target has snowballed and the number of suitors has risen to double digits because business is booming with volumes at record levels, its chief executive Martin Abbott said. The LME will set up a "data room", opening the books for would-be buyers, by early December. "There's been a huge amount of global interest, more than nine people have shown an interest," Abbott told Reuters on Wednesday.
"April at the earliest would be the time that we would take something to shareholders. If we decide there is anything to take to them." The LME, the world's biggest market for industrial metals, said on Friday it was considering a sale after receiving "several expressions of interest." Metal industry sources have said the bid could be worth a potential 1 billion pounds ($1.57 billion), a figure that Abbott said did not come from the exchange. They also said an approach in 2008 had valued the exchange at 800 million pounds.
"Utter, total fabrication, I don't know where that came from, it never happened," Abbott said. There is market speculation that the list of potential acquirers may include CME Group Inc, the largest futures exchange in the United States, IntercontinentalExchange and UK-based broker ICAP .
ICAP Chief Executive Michael Spencer said it was premature to say whether or not his company was interested. "I've not been in touch with the LME and it is premature to say we are interested," he told Reuters in an interview. "We'd need to go and find out more. It is a very good business but it is also complex." Singapore Exchange, the recently launched Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, and Eurex owned by Deutsche Boerse have also been mentioned by metals sources.
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