Article: Investment banks can cure the hedge fund virus

Hedge funds are a virus. They ruthlessly exploit weaknesses in the financial system. And, up to the moment that they wreak havoc in any particular market or security, they are barely visible.

In the case of the competing bids for the London Stock Exchange, for example, debate on the boards of the LSE and of the two putative bidders - Deutsche Borse and Euronext - is too much about whether the hedge funds will reward or punish certain initiatives rather than how to build an optimal European bourse.

This is not to argue that Deutsche Borse, delirious after a hedge fund attack, is blameless. It failed to address its vulnerability to what can be categorised as "corporate governance arbitrage".

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