With Robert Greifeld identifying three key areas of interest for Nasdaq in the next year, a renewed bid for the London Stock Exchange seems likely. The areas are :

* Taking market share from NYSE Group.
* Fending off BATS, a new electronic stock market.
* Forging mergers and acquisitions.

It is then anticipated that Nasdaq will make a new attempt to take over the LSE before the end of the third quarter of next year.

The LSE has declined to comment on Nasdaq’s position. In return, it ratcheted up takeover rumours by claiming that it’s looking at its own “strategic alternatives”.

The Times (London) reports :

The New York market has been linked to takeover talks with both the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the Nordic OMX market in the past week. It is understood that the talks with Philadelphia are advancing well and that Nasdaq insiders expect a takeover to be sealed within six months.

Talks with OMX, which has also tried and failed to take over the London exchange, are at a much earlier stage, but both potential deals are part of a wider strategy to boost Nasdaq’s balance sheet and improve its product offering, so that its next bid for the LSE will be more difficult to reject.

A Nasdaq insider commented, “The long-term objective is still London. This is a game of chess and LSE is the king.”

We await the new LSE moves with great interest.