Foreign bourses vie for stake in BSE

05 Oct 2006



Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has short-listed the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market, the Singapore Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange as potential strategic partners for offloading a 26-per cent stake.

The list also includes some other domestic and global investors, merchant banking sources said.

BSE, however, declined to comment on the media reports that NYSE was in advanced talks with it to acquire a 26 per cent stake in the exchange.

Merchant banking sources said that BSE could finalise its strategic partner when it launches its IPO in May 2007. BSE might also more than double the size of its planned public issue if it fails to find a suitable partner by this year-end, they added.

The possibility is that BSE might simply club the 26 per cent it intends to sell to a partner with the proposed public issue of 25 per cent of its shares in the unlikely event of not finding a suitor, they added.