The Swedish OM Group, which has mounted a hostile takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has met its 26 Irish shareholders as part of a campaign to persuade them to back the deal.
In Dublin yesterday, OM chief executive Mr Per Larsson said it was very obvious the LSE could not continue to struggle the way it had and stressed that a takeover by OM would allow the exchange to grow from a position of strength.
The 26 Irish shareholders, who are members of Irish stockbroking firms, together hold 4.9 per cent of the shares in the LSE.
They each stand to gain around £750,000 sterling (€1.3 million) plus new OM shares.
The Irish members of the LSE are ABN Amro Stockbrokers, AIB Corporate Finance, BCP Stockbrokers, Bloxham Stockbrokers, Campbell O'Connor, Dolmen Butler Briscoe, Dolmen Securities, Fexco Stockbroking, Goodbody Stockbrokers, IIU Stockbrokers, J & E Davy, NCB Stockbrokers and W & R Morrogh (Stockbrokers).
Others to benefit include Garban Ireland, the interdealer broker in the Government bond market, and AIB Corporate Finance which has a separate LSE membership from AIB's Goodbody stockbroking firm.
OM is offering to buy LSE shares for £27.63 sterling each valuing it at £880 million sterling.
The shares closed yesterday at £29.50 benefiting from news that Euronext, the new French-led European stock exchange, was preparing to offer itself as a "white knight".
Euronext is reported to be preparing to approach the LSE as early as next week with its offer, which will be presented to the board and to shareholders.
OM has already visited shareholders in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh with most of its members based in London.
Mr Larsson said OM's roadshow had received a "very friendly reception".
He said shareholders had become very interested in what OM had to say, especially after the recent LSE annual general meeting.
"The LSE has a weak track record. It is our intention to move it forward from a position of strength and to achieve further consolidation through mergers and acquisitions," he said.
The bid must be approved by a majority of 75 per cent for the merger to go ahead, and shareholders will be hoping OM will increase its offer.
OM is asking shareholders to accept its offer by October 2nd. OM is an international technology company with a market capitalisation of £2.7 billion sterling.
It owns and operates a number of exchanges and clearing houses across the world.
The group founded and operated the first for profit, privately owned electronic derivatives exchange in 1985, which was integrated with the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1998. Last April, Euronext offered to merge the two exchanges but this was rejected as the LSE was involved in negotiations with Deutsche Borse to create iX.
That merger collapsed last week leaving shareholders highly critical of the board.
Mr Gavin Casey, the LSE's chief executive, later resigned. Euronext was formed from the merger of the Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels stock exchanges and is due to come formally into being tomorrow. There has been speculation about its intentions towards the LSE since the collapse of the iX merger.
Its chances of winning backing for a merger with the LSE received a boost last week when UBS Warburg, the London exchange's largest shareholder, said it would be "an attractive partner".
