Talk of conflicts of interest as LME shareholders jockey for position in takeover battle

By buying the stake held by defunct broker MF Global, JP Morgan  has dramatically boosted its influence in the battle to acquire the London Metal Exchange. As the biggest shareholder JP Morgan now has stronger input into any changes proposed by suitors while making a tidy profit from any sale, but retains the option to team up with others to block a takeover, analysts and industry sources told Reuters.

JP Morgan now has a stake of 1.4 million shares or 10.9%, jumping ahead of the former dominant shareholder, Goldman Sachs. The LME which handles some 80% of global trade in metals futures said it has received  more than 10 expressions of interest from potential bidders.

The LME last month cleared and matched its first gold trade  and the 134-year old exchange – one of the last bastions of open outcry trading – is looking to start trading silver next year.

Reuters quotes a source at another LME member: “The fact that JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are involved in all the aspects of the LME, brokerage, warehousing and now as shareholders, clearly that throws up some challenges with regards to how the exchange wants to manage that in terms of its conflicts.”

Bloomberg reports the LME is facing increased competition from other exchanges. Trading in contracts such as copper, aluminum and gold on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 43 percent last year compared with the 7.4 percent jump on the LME. The LME started so-called mini-contracts in copper, aluminum and zinc in Singapore in February to take advantage of more demand in Asia.

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