Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) has played down the prospect that it may bid for the London Metal Exchange, saying that while it had considered a bid, the world’s largest exchange group was concentrating on its China business.
Asked if HKEx was one of more than 10 exchanges and other entities that the LME has said have expressed interest in the metal exchange, Ronald Arculli, HKEx chairman, said: “I think as far as I’m concerned we haven’t looked at it seriously. With all these attempts at [industry] consolidation we’ve had no shortage of investment bankers knocking on our door with ideas that they think are great.”
His comments confirm that while HKEx has looked at the LME, it is not seen as among the most likely of bidders, which people familiar with the matter say are CME Group, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) and SGX, the Singapore exchange.