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| London Stock Exchange | |
|---|---|
| |
| Type | Stock Exchange |
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | |
| Owner | London Stock Exchange Group |
| Key people | Clara Furse (CEO) Christopher S. Gibson-Smith (Chairman) |
| Currency | GBP |
| No. of listings | 2,749 |
| Indexes | FTSE 100 Index FTSE 250 Index FTSE 350 Index |
| Website | londonstockexchange.com |
The London Stock Exchange or LSE is a stock exchange located in London, England, United Kingdom. Founded in 1801, it is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world, with many overseas listings as well as British companies. The LSE is part of the London Stock Exchange Group plc.
Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul\'s Cathedral in the City of London.
Paternoster Square. The LSE occupies the building that takes up much of the right side of this picture.
Contents |
The trade in shares in London began with the need to finance two voyages: The Muscovy Company\'s attempt to reach China via the White Sea north of Russia, and the East India Company voyage to India and the east.
Unable to finance these costly journeys privately, the companies raised the money by selling shares to merchants, giving them a right to a portion of any profits eventually made.
The idea soon caught on (one of the earliest was the Earl of Bedford\'s scheme to drain the fens). It is estimated that by 1695, there were 140 joint-stock companies. The trade in shares was centered around the City\'s Change Alley in two coffee shops: Garraway\'s and Jonathan\'s. The broker, John Castaing, published the prices of stocks and commodities called The Course of the Exchange and other things in these coffee shops.
In 1697,, a law was passed to "restrain the number and ill-practice of brokers and stockjobbers" following a number of insider trading and market-rigging incidents. It required all brokers to be licensed and to take an oath promising to act lawfully.
The Change Alley exchange thrived. However, it suffered a set-back in 1720.
Much excitement was caused by the South Sea Company, stoked by brokers, the company\'s owner John Blunt and the government. Having set up the unprofitable company nine years previously, the government hoped to wipe out the large debts accumulated by offering shares to the public.
Shares in the company, which had started at £128 each at the start of the year, were soon fetching as much as £1,050 by June. The bubble inevitably burst, with share prices plunging to £175, then £124.
The incident caused outcry, forcing the government to pass legislation to prevent another bubble, and it took a long time for the stock exchange to recover.
Jonathan\'s burnt down in 1748, and this, plus dissatisfaction with the overcrowding in the Alley, made the brokers build a New Jonathan\'s on Threadneedle Street, as well as charging an entrance fee. The building was soon renamed the Stock Exchange, only to be renamed again as the Stock Subscription Room in 1801, with new membership regulations.
Former LSE premises in Threadneedle Street
However, this too proved unsatisfactory, and the exchange moved to the newly built Capel Court in the same year. The exchange had recovered by the 1820s, bolstered by the growth of the railways, canals, mining and insurance industries (there were, however, problems with stags and dividend payments). Regional stock exchanges were formed across the UK. Bonds (or gilt-edged securities) also began to be traded.
It received its own Coat of Arms in 1923. Its motto is dictum meum pactum, "My word is my bond".[1]
The former Stock Exchange Tower, based in Threadneedle Street/Old Broad Street was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1972 and housed the Trading Floor where traders would traditionally meet to conduct business.
This became largely redundant with the advent of the Big Bang on 27 October, 1986, which deregulated many of the Stock Exchange\'s activities. It eliminated fixed commissions on security trades and allowed securities firms to act as brokers and dealers. It also enabled an increased use of computerised systems that allowed dealing rooms to take precedence over face to face trading.
On July 20, 1990 a bomb planted by the IRA exploded in the men\'s toilets behind the visitors\' gallery. The area had already been evacuated and nobody was injured."On This Day: July 20, 1990: IRA bombs Stock Exchange", BBC News, 1990-07-20. The long term trend towards electronic trading had been reducing the Exchange\'s status as a visitor attraction and, although the gallery reopened, it was closed permanently in 1992.
The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building
In July 2004, the London Stock Exchange moved from Threadneedle Street to Paternoster Square (EC4) close to St Paul\'s Cathedral, still within the "Square Mile" (the City of London).
It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II once again, accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, on 27 July, 2004. The new building contains a specially commissioned dynamic sculpture called "The Source", by artists Greyworld.
In December 2005, the London Stock Exchange rejected a £1.6 billion takeover offer from Macquarie Bank. The LSE described the offer as "derisory", a sentiment echoed by shareholders in the exchange. Shortly after Macquarie withdrew its offer, the LSE received an unsolicited approach from NASDAQ valuing the company at £2.4 billion. This too it duly rejected. NASDAQ later pulled its bid, and less than two weeks later on April 11, 2006, struck a deal with LSE\'s largest shareholder, Ameriprise Financial\'s Threadneedle Asset Management unit, to acquire all of that firm\'s stake, consisting of 35.4 million shares, at £11.75 per share.Patrick, M.; Lucchetti, A., Reilly, D., Taylor, E.. "Nasdaq Acquires 15% of LSE", The Wall Street Journal, 2006-04-11. NASDAQ also purchased 2.69 million additional shares, resulting in a total stake of 15%. While the seller of those shares was undisclosed, it occurred simultaneously with a sale by Scottish Widows of 2.69 million shares."Scottish Widows says has sold 2.7 mln LSE shares at 1,175 pence", Forbes, 2006-04-12. The move was seen as an effort to force LSE to the negotiating table, as well as to limit the LSE\'s strategic flexibility.Ortega, E.. "Nasdaq Buys 15 Percent Stake in LSE for $782 Million", Bloomberg News, 2006-04-11.
Subsequent purchases increased NASDAQ\'s stake to 25.1%, holding off competing bids for several months.MacDonald, A.; Lucchetti, A.. "In LSE Stakes, Nasdaq Advances, Euronext Falls", The Wall Street Journal, 2006-05-04. Lucchetti, A.; MacDonald, A.. "Nasdaq Lifts Its LSE Stake to 24%", The Wall Street Journal, 2006-05-11. Goldsmith, B.; Elliott, M.. "Nasdaq raises LSE stake, making rival bids harder", Reuters, 2006-05-19. United Kingdom financial rules required that NASDAQ wait for a period of time before renewing its effort. On November 20, 2006, within a month or two of the expiration of this period, NASDAQ increased its stake to 28.75% and launched a hostile offer at the minimum permitted bid of £12.43 per share, which was the highest NASDAQ had paid on the open market for its existing shares.Lucchetti, A.; MacDonald, A.. "Nasdaq Makes Bid to Buy Rest of London Stock Exchange", The Wall Street Journal, 2006-11-20. The LSE immediately rejected this bid, stating that it "substantially undervalues" the company."LSE rejects £2.7bn Nasdaq offer", BBC News, 2006-11-20.
NASDAQ revised its offer (characterized as an "unsolicited" bid, rather than a "hostile takeover attempt") on December 12, 2006, indicating that it would be able to complete the deal with 50% (plus one share) of LSE\'s stock, rather than the 90% it had been seeking. The U.S. exchange did not, however, raise its bid. Many hedge funds had accumulated large positions within the LSE, and many managers of those funds, as well as Furse, indicated that the bid was still not satisfactory. NASDAQ\'s bid was made more difficult because it had described its offer as "final", which, under British bidding rules, restricted their ability to raise its offer except under certain circumstances.
In the end, NASDAQ\'s offer was roundly rejected by LSE shareholders. Having received acceptances of only 0.41 per cent of rest of the register by the deadline on 10 February, 2007, Nasdaq\'s offer duly lapsed[2]. Responding to the news, Chris Gibson-Smith, the LSE\'s chairman, said: "The Exchange’s strategy has produced outstanding results for shareholders by facilitating a structural shift in volume growth in an increasingly international market at the centre of the world’s equity flows. The Exchange intends to build on its exceptionally valuable brand by progressing various competitive, collaborative and strategic opportunities, thereby reinforcing its uniquely powerful position in a fast evolving global sector.""Statement re lapse of Nasdaq’s offer", londonstockexchange.com, 2007-02-10.
On Monday, 20 August, 2007, NASDAQ announced that it was abandoning its plan to take over the LSE and subsequently look for options to divest its 31% (61.3 million shares) shareholding in the company in light of its failed takeover attempt."Sale Update", reuters.co.uk, 2007-08-20. In September 2007, NASDAQ agreed to sell the majority of its shares to Borse Dubai, leaving the United Arab Emirates-based exchange with 28% of the LSE.Magnusson, N.; McSheehy, W.. "Dubai to Buy Stakes in Nasdaq, LSE; Strikes OMX Deal", bloomberg.com, 2007-09-20.
The LSE is broken down into the Main Market and Alternative Investments Market (AIM), as well as EDX London (which handles derivatives). The independent FTSE Group maintains a series of indices for measuring the LSE, including the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 250 Index, and FTSE 350 Index.
On 7th November 2007 LSE had a 40 minute outage. The LSE stated this was due to "connectivity issues".
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