Ken Livingstone yesterday called on the Office of Fair Trading to launch an “in-depth” investigation of the competition implications of the attempted takeover of the London Stock Exchange by the US exhange NASDAQ.
Citing his “core duties” as laid out in the Greater London Authority Act 1999 to promote “economic development and wealth creation” as justification for his intervention the Mayor said he was “concerned that NASDAQ would never regard the LSE as anything other than a secondary exchange to itself, could not be compelled to undertake the scale of investment which is required to sustain the premier position of the London Stock Exchange.”
Mr Livingstone accused NASDAQ of “exploiting a legal anomaly whereby a London exchange would be prevented from taking over a US exchange but where the London Stock Exchange can be taken over by a US one.”
As well as asking for an in-depth investigation into the attempted takeover of the London Stock Exchange by NASDAQ, the Mayor said he was was also asking the Government to “urgently examine the implications of this transaction on London’s competitiveness.”
