By Andrea Hotter
Shareholders in the London Metal Exchange will vote on the proposed sale of the 135-year-old exchange to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (0388.HK) on July 25, the LME said Monday.
The bid is an all-cash offer worth 1.388 billion pounds, ($2,150 billion) equivalent to GBP107.6 a share, a huge premium to the GBP41.92 a share currently. If shareholders vote in favor, the deal is slated to complete in the fourth quarter.
Hong Kong Exchanges will need to convince LME members, who are also its shareholders, to sell their shares. A sale isn't guaranteed and the approval threshold is high, with 75% of shares and 50% of members needed to back the deal for it to go ahead.
Write to Andrea Hotter at andrea.hotter@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 09, 2012 05:09 ET (09:09 GMT)
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