Why I Really Love Clara Furse

The Nasdaq bought a 15% stake in the UK market [LSE, ed.] at a price of £11.75 per share. (BBC NEWS | Business)

When Clara Furse became CEO of the LSE, the old boys somehow thought something along the lines of: “… well, lets see, the boys couldn’t do it, lets see if a girl can do it …”

And after some time, they saw that “… well, as we thought, this is a boys’ game …” and were eagerly waiting for Clara Furse to throw the towel.

But she didn’t! She kept fighting for what now seems to be the best deal ever. She even sneered at Nasdaq’s last proposal of £9.50 saying that it was too low.

She flirted around with all the “big boys”, Deutsche Börse (sheesh), Euronext, even at one time with the grand, old NYSE. And now, finally, shee seems to be getting her way. £11.75!! Man, this is really a nice price. I know, I know, Nasdaq just bought 14.99% from Threadneedle but still, it’s a start and gives her an extremely strong position for negotiations with Euronext for a merger.

In the end, I’d still hope that LSE would merge with Euronext because from my perspective, it would make most sense. There are not many synergies with Nasdaq, except for cultural similarities, but AFAIK Nasdaq doesn’t really provide LSE what it needs most: Entry into the derivatives market. But Euronext does! And another, this time very personal, reason for me is to cut down Deutsche Börse to its size: If LSE and Euronext merge, Deutsche Börse would be standing “in the rain” as we say in Germany – alone, smallish, and provincial. Now what could happen next? Well, Nasdaq could then buy-out Deutsche Börse and finally enter the Continental European market – and we would have an excellent, competitive market here in Europe.

The conclusion for me: Sometimes, the big boys’ game is best played by “little girls”.

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