An Atlanta company that two years ago took ownership of the New York Stock Exchange may now have its sights set on buying the London Stock Exchange as well.
Intercontinental Exchange, better known as ICE, confirmed early Tuesday that it is considering a competing offer for the London trading exchange.
ICE would have to beat out a rival bid by Germany-based Deutsche Boerse AG, which said last week it was in merger talks with the U.K. exchange. That all-stock deal would be worth about $28 billion, based on the two exchange operators’ market values.
According to news reports, the parent company of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is also considering a bid for the London exchange.
The jockeying by ICE and other players continues a long-running rivalry on both sides of the Atlanta as well as within the United States.
ICE, already the world’s largest market exchange in terms of revenue, would likely face heavy scrutiny by regulators in Europe compared to a merger of the two European markets, according to industry analysts.
"There can be no certainty that any offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer will be made. A further announcement will be made as appropriate," ICE said in a statement on its website. The potential offer was first reported by Bloomberg News.
Under British takeover rules, ICE said it has until March 29 to make an offer for the London exchange or to declare that it is not interested.
Tuesday afternoon, ICE’s stock price had declined about 3 percent to $230.28. U.S.-listed shares for the London Stock Exchange Group had risen about 9 percent.
ICE said it is working with advisers including Morgan Stanley on a possible bid to better Deutsche Boerse’s offer.
A bid for the London exchange would be the latest in a string of audacious acquisitions for ICE and its founder and CEO, Jeffrey Sprecher. The company, whose headquarters are in north Atlanta, started in 2000 as an energy trading exchange.
In 2011, ICE teamed up with Nasdaq to derail Deutsche Boerse’s effort to buy NYSE Euronext, which operated stock and derivatives exchanges in New York and several European cities.
The offer by ICE and Nasdaq also fell apart, but ICE came back in 2013, acquiring NYSE Euronext in an $11 billion deal. ICE, which spun off Euronext in a 2014 initial public offering, now includes 11 trading exchanges.
Earlier this month, ICE reported record profit of $1.3 billion for 2015, 27 percent higher than the previous year.
