Frankfurt, London Exchanges Talk Merger

More than four years after the failure of their ambitious "iX" merger project, the Frankfurt and London stock exchanges relaunched tie-up talks Monday with a view to extending their lead over rival Euronext as Europe's leading stock market. Deutsche Börse, the company which operates the Frankfurt stock exchange, announced that it had offered to buy the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for around €2 billion ($2.64 billion). The LSE rejected the offer as too low, but indicated that it was prepared to continue negotiations with Frankfurt with a view to securing a "significantly" higher offering price. Analysts suggested that Euronext, which comprises the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon stock exchanges, was waiting in the sidelines and might launch a counter bid for the LSE, which would thwart Frankfurt and London's dreams of a tie-up.