Clara Furse is rapidly becoming an iconic figure in the City of London. On Friday she knocked back Nasdaq’s approach like a memsahib swatting a mosquito.

With predators circling, Clara, the doughty CEO, has convinced LSE investors that it’s worth double, or more.

The Times (London) writes: “The LSE is building its business at an impressive rate. But it is not so long ago that she was letting it be known that if any offer for the LSE were to be taken seriously, it would have to start with a six. It takes some nerve to be so dismissive of one that starts 50 per cent above that threshold. Given the price that Nasdaq is now mooting, the most surprising thing is that it waited until now to show its hand. A couple of months ago, it would have seemed the most generous of approaches and even Ms Furse might have had to treat it with more respect.”

The LSE is a unique asset, a thriving exchange in Europe’s financial capital which is now attracting international listings that opt for London over New York.

That will have been noted by Nasdaq, which suffers from being in the land where Sarbanes-Oxley is king, encouraging some companies to seek more comfortable regimes in which to reside.

Clara Furse is believed to be in favour of a transatlantic link for the LSE. It seems there have been informal talks with both Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange.

“But the dot-com boom fizzled out and Nasdaq took a pounding. The NYSE, meanwhile, got itself a top Goldman Sachs banker to run it and proceeded to move into the noughties.”

The New York exchange, though, is still not advanced enough in its restructuring to be able to do a deal with LSE on the terms it would like.

“Ironically, yesterday showed signs of a return to the internet fever on which Nasdaq once thrived. Investors were so anxious to grab a slice of Rightmove, the internet estate agency, that they sent the price soaring to a premium of nearly a fifth over the float price.”

The London Stock Exchange has invested heavily in building an electronic platform it believes is a world beater. That’s why Euronext was attracted to it. But the Paris-based exchange is now unable to meet the current valuation of the LSE.

Maybe Clara Furse will swallow Euronext on the LSE’s terms. It’s about time London went on the offensive. It holds most of the cards.