London Stock Exchange shares to get market listing

By CHRIS HUGHES

LONDON - The London Stock Exchange has recently outlined plans to give its shares a market listing by the end of July, but said it would raise no new money in the process.

The listing plans formed the centrepiece of Clara Furse's first strategy presentation since she joined the LSE as chief executive in February.

"The reason for listing now is because we need to do it. We want to generate flexibility to access the capital markets," Mrs Furse said.

The move would help the LSE to tap the markets to fund acquisitions in an effort to maintain its position as the leading market in the European time-zone, and develop technology that would make it cheaper for companies to raise capital.

"We are looking at a number of options, not just in Europe but also beyond," said Mrs Furse.

But no costed plans were revealed, and Don Cruickshank, the LSE chairman, dampened expectations that a large acquisition was in the offing.

"The truth of the matter is that there's no specific transaction to announce," he said. "Among the cognoscenti there's an appreciation of what's been done."

The LSE warned it would not truly flourish unless the Government abolished stamp duty on share trades, and Europe's clearing and settlement structure was reformed.

LSE shares are at present traded on a matched-bargain basis through Cazenove, the City stock broker.

The move to a listing will see other brokers make a market in the stock, which will enter the FTSE 250 index.

The LSE is abolishing a rule that limits individual shareholdings to just 4.9 per cent in an attempt to attract institutional investors on to its share register.

Among the targets Mrs Furse set out for the exchange was for it to be the world's "highest quality, lowest cost provider of international exchange services." She later admitted that the LSE already was.

The strategy announcement accompanied publication of LSE's full-year results, showing sales in continuing operations jumping 18 per cent to £193 million ($667 million).

A charge of £18.9 million for the LSE's defence against a hostile takeover from Sweden's OM Group and its aborted merger with Deutsche Borse of Germany saw pre-tax profits fall £28.1 million to £30.4 million.

Mrs Furse said the LSE expected to announce a move from its Old Broad St site within weeks.

- INDEPENDENT