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The firm had been the biggest single shareholder
in the LSE prior to the sale, which occurred on Wednesday
through a so-called book building process which a source
familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday happened at
22.50 pounds a share.
This would equate to a total sale worth 1.36 billion pounds ($2
billion), according to Reuters calculations. Shares in LSE fell
sharply as a result, down 10 percent to 22.83 pounds by 0910
GMT.
Borse Dubai, the holding company for Dubai Financial Market and
Nasdaq Dubai, confirmed on Thursday it had sold its LSE stake
without disclosing the price.
In a separate response to questions from Reuters, a Borse Dubai
spokesman said it had "no current intention" to sell its stake
in the United States financial services firm that owns Nasdaq
and multiple European stock exchanges.
Borse Dubai is the largest shareholder in Nasdaq OMX, owning
17.64 percent of the company, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Borse Dubai sold its LSE stake as the share price was at an
all-time high and it was the "appropriate time to monetize" its
investment, the spokesman told Reuters in an emailed response to
questions.
It became a major shareholder in Nasdaq in a complex deal in
2007, also buying a 28 percent stake in the LSE from Nasdaq for
1,414 pence per share.
The proceeds from the stake sale would be used for general
business purposes, he added.
The LSE stake sale was managed by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch,
Barclays and Nomura International, a Borse Dubai said.
Borse Dubai previously sold a chunk of its LSE stake in
September 2014, representing around 3.1 percent of the company's
issued capital.
It said then that it had "no current intention to sell any
further shares" and it remained "a long-term supportive
shareholder".
($1 = 0.6686 pounds)
(Editing by David French and Keith Weir)
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