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Article: Personal Finance: Welcome aboard the floating LSE The London Stock Exchange's decision float on the stock market will win it greater freedom, flexibility and, equally important, accountability
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- May 26, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Two and a half cheers for the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and its
new chief executive, Clara Furse, for deciding to float on the stock
market. It wasn't so long ago that the LSE's chairman Don Cruickshank
was trying to flog the LSE to the Germans for a song, only to see it
nearly succumb to a hostile bid from a tiny Swedish outfit.
Cross-border mergers of stock exchanges will still have to happen.
But floating the LSE, at a value of about pounds 1bn, will give it
far greater clout and flexibility in the changes ahead. It faces two
big rivals in Europe, centred on Frankfurt and Paris, both of which
have raised hefty war chests of cash, but London has a great name and
a good reputation going ...