Praag-matic

Here's a curiosity - a quick look at the LSE / Deutsche Borse merger announcement shows that Lucas Van Praag has landed a rather juicy mandate as a PR advisor to the LSE on the £20 billion plus exchange tie-up.

I remember the ultra smooth Van Praag from the days when he was a chief spinmeister at Goldman Sachs. He had a tough job, especially after Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the investment bank as a giant "vampire squid". He would also frustrate some of my ex-colleagues something rotten. Nowadays, though, it would appear he runs a New York-based PR firm called Fitzroy Communications.

From predator to prey... - part 2

So, loyal readers have got in touch following yesterday's item regarding the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's interest in buying Deutsche Borse to point out that there are clear, hard news reports about the former's interest in purchasing the latter.

Here is a link to what looks like a very well sourced Bloomberg piece from 2013:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-02-25/cme-said-to-approach-deutsche-boerse-for-merger-talks

Perhaps those people involved in the situation are on the money after all...?

From predator to prey...

Most of today's coverage of ICE's confirmation of interest in the LSE focussed on how the owner of the New York Stock Exchange and rival Chicago Mercantile Exchange are weighing making counter offers for the London-listed company.

However, tucked away in the The Times splash is a line about how the Chicago Mercantile Exchange might go after Deutsche Borse, which is essentially trying to buy the LSE, instead of the UK exchange - yikes! Here is the link: