The Qatar Investment Authority has shelved its attempt to buy the Scandinavian exchange group, OMX.

The plan now is to become the London Stock Exchange’s biggest shareholder by swapping its 10 percent stake in OMX for part of Dubai’s 20 percent holding in the LSE.

The Qataris already hold around 15 percent of the London exchange. A deal is thought to be imminent.

With the LSE in the FTSE 100, it won’t be so easy to take over the company in future, one presumes.