British regulators approve LME takeover

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing’s (0388.HKG) takeover of the London Metal Exchange (LME) has won the approval of British regulators, Financial Services Authority, Bloomberg reported. The High Court of England and Wales also needs to approve the acquisition, and a hearing is set for December 5, Hong Kong Exchanges said in a statement. Hong Kong Exchanges was backed by LME on June 15 ahead of bids from NYSE Euronext (NYX.NYSE), Intercontinental Exchanges and CME Group (CME.NASDAQ). “This is what we’ve been waiting on. It is a little later than we would have thought, probably about a month or so,” Hong Kong-based Thomas Monaco, an analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia, said. Hong Kong Exchanges plans to sell around US$995 million shares to fund the acquisition. LME handles more than 80% of world metals trading and may gain access to China through Hong Kong Exchanges.