Good morning: The owner of the Hong Kong stock exchange has abandoned its audacious £32 billion bid for the London Stock Exchange Group. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) stunned the City last month when it launched a cash-and-paper offer of £83.61 a share for the LSE. But in a brief statement in the early hours of the morning the Hong Kong exchange said that it had decided that it was not in the best interests of shareholders to pursue the deal after it failed to convince the LSE management to engage. “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 the LSE,” the…

Source: The Times October 08, 2019 08:03 UTC