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To: Anchan who wrote (5579)	11/15/2000 2:02:15 AM
From: Edwin S. Fujinaka	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6020

Nasdaq to explore LSE alliance By John Labate in New York and Vincent Boland in London Published: November 14 2000 20:57GMT \| Last Updated: November 15 2000 04:41GMT The Nasdaq stock market is to begin "a quick, orderly and friendly process" to explore an alliance with the London Stock Exchange. John Hilley, chairman of Nasdaq International, told the Financial Times on Tuesday "a window of opportunity has just reopened" after the failure last week of a hostile bid for the LSE by Sweden's OM Group. His remarks confirm that Nasdaq, the world's second largest stock market, is intent on exploring a deal with the LSE as the basis of a broader European strategy. "It makes profound business logic for the LSE and Nasdaq to do a deal," Mr Hilley said. "There is a revolution in securities trading that is about to explode in Europe and it's based on initial public offerings and retail trading. We dominate in both those areas." Nasdaq is also in talks with Deutsche Borse, Euronext and other European exchanges, which could lead to the formation of a new pan-European trading platform, with Nasdaq providing the US link. The LSE declined to comment. Don Cruickshank, chairman, earlier told the Treasury Select Committee he "would not speculate" on whether a deal with Nasdaq was part of future strategy. Mr Cruickshank has already warned a deal with Nasdaq would be complicated, especially if it involved an exchange of shareholdings. The US market has almost completed its switch from a mutual structure to a shareholder-owned company, however, and is known to favour London as the location of any European operation. The LSE is aware many of its shareholders favour a deal with Nasdaq. But Mr Cruickshank has said a new chief executive and board of directors should be in place before any decision is considered. Mr Hilley declined to discuss a timetable for talks but he is understood to be unwilling to wait too long. He also declined to be drawn on the kind of deal Nasdaq favoured. Frank Zarb, Nasdaq's chairman, is known to want to leverage Nasdaq's US expertise in technology stocks in other markets in Asia and Europe. Nasdaq has long sought to partner market leaders to create a single stock-trading platform to handle cross-border dealing in Europe and eventually around the world. OM Group, the technology group that operates the Swedish Stock Exchange, launched a bid in August for all shares in the LSE. That bid helped to undo the LSE's prior merger agreement with the Deutsche Borse, a deal that also included a link with Nasdaq.