Singapore may buy Nasdaq's LSE stake

Sale could bolster Nasdaq's chances of beating Borse Dubai in the race to buy Nordic exchange owner OMX. (Getty Images)

Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government-owned investment agency, has approached Nasdaq to buy its 30% stake, worth 800 million pounds ($1.6 billion), in the London Stock Exchange (LSE), a newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Sunday Times said in an unsourced report that Temasek had made the approach in recent days and the deal could lead to a full takeover of the LSE by the Singaporean investor.

On August 20, Nasdaq Stock Market said it might sell its stake in the LSE to bolster its chances of buying Nordic exchange operator OMX and it was already in touch with interested parties.

The US exchange company said later in the day in a statement that it would not sell its LSE stake to a single buyer.

The newspaper said several parties, including the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, may enter the fray as well as investment and infrastructure funds.

In a separate report, the Observer newspaper said, quoting an investment banker, that Nasdaq was seeking to sell up to half of its LSE stake to Deutsche Boerse.

Nasdaq, eager to expand its presence in overseas markets, is locked in a $4 billion bidding war with Borse Dubai for OMX, which owns exchanges in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and the Baltic states. Temasek and Nasdaq were not immediately reachable.

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