Press releases 2000

13 October 2000

LSE BOARD CONTINUES TO REJECT OM BID

The Board of the London Stock Exchange plc has considered the increased bid from OM Gruppen. The Board believes that OM's revised offer continues to represent inadequate value for shareholders and offers no proven benefits for customers. It urges shareholders to reject the offer from OM.

Don Cruickshank, Chairman of London Stock Exchange plc, said: "During recent weeks, the OM share price has dropped by more than 20 per cent. In the meanwhile, OM has failed to address the serious concerns we have raised about their technology, financial track record and ownership control and governance.

"OM's suggestion that London Stock Exchange has sought to stifle debate on the 4.9 per cent shareholding limit is absurd. We have called an EGM for Thursday 19 October specifically to allow our shareholders to consider this issue.

"The revised OM offer provides London Stock Exchange shareholders with a choice between two unattractive alternatives: either even more shares of uncertain value or cash and even less influence. We will be writing to shareholders in due course with our further reasons for rejecting this bid."

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Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by The Securities and Futures Authority Limited, is acting for London Stock Exchange plc and no one else in connection with the offer by OM and will not be responsible to anyone other than London Stock Exchange plc for providing the protections afforded to its customers or for providing advice in relation to the offer by OM. Schroder Salomon Smith Barney has approved this press release for the purposes of Section 57 of the Financial Services Act 1986.