Anyone upset about Borse Dubai acquiring a 20% stake in Nasdaq? Personally I don't see why so many politicians are concerned about this. Here is the story by the way. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iDJRbVtgwg7Ao6zLElV969fyg9Jg
UAE and Qatar are in both involved in this major bid... UAE, Qatar win almost half of London Stock Exchange http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5igyF59uSLy9XLr7WxaiGaAulYiVA LONDON (AFP) — The United Arab Emirates and Qatar are set to own nearly half of the London Stock Exchange, a source close to the matter told AFP on Thursday. The two Gulf states have agreed to buy a combined "48 percent" of the prestigious London market in separate deals, the source said. The news propels the Middle Eastern countries into the heart of European financial markets. The state-linked Qatari Investment Authority said it had bought a 20-percent slice of the LSE, which is Europe's oldest stock exchange. According to the source, the shares were sold by American investors -- but not the US Nasdaq stock market. Earlier, UAE group Borse Dubai agreed to buy a 28-percent LSE holding from the US Nasdaq stock market as part of a deal to jointly take over Nordic operator OMX. The LSE did not comment on the Nasdaq sale, but welcomed the purchase by Qatar. "The board of the Exchange is very happy to welcome the QIA as a long term investor in the company," the LSE said. The US-based Nasdaq, which was the LSE's biggest shareholder with a 31-percent holding, said last month that it wanted to sell up after a failed hostile takeover attempt. "Qatar Investment Authority today announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Qatar Holding, has purchased a 20 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange," the QIA said in an official statement. No financial details of the transaction were given and the QIA stressed that it had no takeover plans. "Neither QIA nor Qatar Holding currently intends to make an offer for the LSE but reserves its position in the event that a third party announces a firm intention to make an offer," the statement continued. Qatar, like its neighboring emirate, Dubai, is seeking to become the Middle East's centre of global trading. Both emirates have an independent market regulator. Across in Stockholm on Thursday, Nasdaq and Borse Dubai reached a complex agreement to jointly take over Nordic market operator OMX, with Borse Dubai taking 19.99 percent of Nasdaq. The groups said Borse Dubai would follow through on its previously announced 230 kronor per share offer for OMX worth 3.97 billion dollars (2.94 billion euros). The Nasdaq would then acquire all of Borse Dubai's OMX shares. Under the terms of the deal, Dubai will acquire almost one third of the LSE, while Nasdaq will become a strategic shareholder in the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX). The announcement ended intense speculation over the fate of OMX, with Nasdaq and Borse Dubai both courting the group in recent months. OMX operates the stock markets of Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Reykjavik, Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius.
