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DIFC set for OMX bid

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is set to launch a bid for OMX AB, the owner of the Swedish stock exchange, according to the UK’s Daily Telegraph.

“Bankers at UBS and Goldman Sachs are understood to have been asked to be on standby to launch a bid for OMX on behalf of the DIFC as early as [this ] week,” Gulf news quotes the Telegraph as saying.
The move would scupper the agreed $3.77 billion takeover of the Scandinavian exchange operator by Nasdaq, announced in a statement in May.

The DIFC is understood to have secured funding to bid 250 crowns ($37.63) per share, 20% up on Nasdaq’s recent 208.1 crowns-per-share offer. However, dealers said the bid would be more likely to come in at 230 crowns ($34.59) per share, according to the report.

The bid would mark the largest single investment by the DIFC, which has in the past taken small stakes in Euronext, HSBC and Deutsche Bank.

Gulf News was unable to obtain comment from DIFC officials.

According to The Telegraph "The DIFC's existing financial adviser, HSBC, is thought to be leading work on the deal which is believed to have been masterminded in part by DIFX head Per Larsson, the former chief executive of OMX."

"The DIFC is understood to have been buying OMX shares in the open market in recent days, amassing a stake in the region of 4.5 per cent, just below the 5 per cent level at which a buyer must disclose ownership under Swedish stock exchange rules," the report continues.

DIFC governor Omar Bin Sulaiman said in May that DIFC would not consider making a bid for OMX.

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