Liffe listens to bid offers

The battle for London derivatives market Liffe is heating up with all three potential bidders reported to be making presentations to its board on Thursday.

Liffe is currently a target for three exchanges; the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse and Euronext - the joint Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam exchange.

And according to one report, the LSE has raised its offer for Liffe to £550m.

The Reuters news agency quoted an unidentified source as saying the LSE's offer was now equal to more than £17 a share, above the target price reportedly sought by Liffe's shareholders.

Meanwhile another report claimed that Deutsche Boerse was not expected to make a bid for Liffe on Thursday, although it is monitoring events in London closely.

Deutsche Boerse is being seen by some as an outsider in the bidding race as it may face competition concerns through its control of Eurex, Liffe's main rival.

Asset

Liffe is not expected to make any announcements following the presentations until Friday at the earliest.

The exchange put itself up for sale last month after it received several bid approaches.

Since then its share price has nearly doubled as the various suitors jockey for position.

Liffe is seen as a key asset in the other exchanges' battle to become the most important financial market in Europe.

The exchange - which used to be famous for its "open outcry" system of trading - is now fully automatic and trades contracts on a wide range of securities and commodities.