LONDON (Reuters) – Two hedge funds have been buying shares in the London Stock Exchange as Nasdaq Stock Market seeks to sell its 31 percent stake, according to regulatory documents filed on Tuesday.
Horizon Asset Management and Kinetics Asset Management, sister units of U.S. investment group Horizon AM, notified British regulators they have amassed a combined 28.4 million shares, or a 14.2 percent stake, in the LSE as of September 10.
The two U.S.-based hedge funds had 13.1 percent of the exchange as of mid-August, according to Reuters Estimates, as the second-biggest shareholder after Nasdaq.
The funds also increased their stakes in the UK exchange in late 2006 at around 1,300 pence each when Nasdaq launched a 2.9 billion pounds, or 1,243 pence per share, hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange on November 20, 2006.
Kinetics Asset Management and Horizon Asset Management, at that time, held a combined stake of 6.4 percent as the third-biggest share owner of the exchange.
Nasdaq said late last month it was looking to sell its stake in the LSE, Europe’s largest exchange, and focus instead on buying Nordic bourse operator OMX
