Update: Hong Kong pulls bid for London Stock Exchange

After LSE rejected bid

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has announced it will not proceed with its bid for the London Stock Exchange.

Last month, Hong Kong made an unsolicited $39bn bid for the LSE, which it rejected. In a statement today (8 October), HKEX said the board continues to believe that a combination of LSEG and HKEX is "strategically compelling and would create a world-leading market infrastructure group". The statement added: "Despite engagement with a broad set of regulators and extensive shareholder engagement, the board of HKEX is disappointed that it has been unable to engage with the management of LSEG in realising this vision, and as a consequence has decided it is not in the best interests of HKEX...