HKEx paying too much for LME, say FA readers

Hong Kong’s stock exchange provoked a few raised eyebrows last week when it bid 1.4 billion $2.2 billion for the London Metal Exchange LME.

At that price, Hong Kong Exchanges Clearing HKEx is paying a whopping 181 times more than the LME’s 2011 revenues of just 7.7 million. It is easy to understand why some critics have accused HKEx of paying over the odds, so we asked our readers what they thought in last week’s online poll.

More than half of respondents said the price was too high.

In a statement, HKEx rationalised the valuation in two ways...