The Dubai stock exchange is seeking approval from the board of OMX, the pan-Scandinavian stock exchange group, to support a £2 billion ($4bn) takeover offer this week.

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), which owns the exchange, has set up meetings with key shareholders of the Swedish-based group and its management, to pave the way for a bid of around 230 kronor (£16.70) per share. Bankers at HSBC, which is advising the Dubai owners, seem to have suggested privately that the Emirate was prepared to pay as much as 250 kronor a share.

They will also have meetings with members of the Swedish government and regulators in an attempt to win support for the approach.

These moves could have implications for the London Stock Exchange. Dubai is thought to have plans to create a pan-European exchange to include the LSE and its new partner, Borsa Italiana. Such a grouping would rival NYSE/Euronext, which was formed last year.

Nasdaq’s recently-agreed bid of £1.8 billion ($3.6bn) for OMX now looks weak in comparison. However, talk of Dubai approaching the American exchange to be part of its masterplan seem wide of the mark. Dubai is shy of a political backlash if it buys in America again, following turbulence created by its recent purchase of P&O and its American ports.

Nasdaq chief executive, Bob Greifeld, last week told investors that its funding for the OMX bid was “flexible”. Insiders are apparently saying that “all options” were on the table, including selling some of Nasdaq’s 22 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange.

A source is quoted as saying, “Greifeld is determined to get this and is leaving no stone unturned. He is also aware that his future is uncertain if this bid fails, after the failure of the London Stock Exchange bid.”

With a place in the FTSE 100 now assured, Clara Furse may be on the prowl again for another asset to bolster LSE independence from Dubai’s predatory instincts.

The long-awaited counterbid for the Scandinavian stock exchange group, OMX, by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) could be made this week.

Advisers, UBS and Goldman Sachs are said to be on standby for the event.

The new bid is expected to be up to 20 percent higher than rival Nasdaq’s agreed $3.7bn (£1.9bn) merger offer already on the table.

DIFC is understood to have amassed a stake in OMX of around 4 - 5 percent in the open market, which is below the 5 percent level where a bid must be declared under Swedish rules.

A Dubai director recently said that “the sky’s the limit” for its international investment ambitions.

Following Nasdaq’s £1.9 billion ($3.7bn) deal to buy Swedish exchange OMX, which operates in Iceland, the Baltic states and Scandinavia, Dubai has muscled in on the act.

The Dubai International Financial Centre is said to be “the world’s newest international financial centre”. It has appointed HSBC to advise it on a possible challenge for OMX.

On Friday, OMX agreed to be taken over by Nasdaq, the New York exchange, which last year made two failed attempts to buy the London Stock Exchange.

The Nasdaq cash and share deal for OMX would have created a £3.8 billion ($7.5bn) company with operations in eight countries. It would be the third transatlantic merger between exchanges in the past 12 months.

The Times (London) reports, “The DIFC’s decision to consider a counterbid further underlines the international ambitions of the tiny Gulf state. Last year, Dubai Ports World, another arm of the Dubai government, seized control of some of the world’s most important ports when it acquired P&O. The planned bid for OMX signals DIFC’s ambitions to raise Dubai’s profile in international financial markets.”

The Dubai International Financial Exchange, which opened for business in 2005 was intended to “create an environment for progress and economic development in the UAE and the wider region”.

So, the consolidation of the world’s stock markets proceeds apace. In March the New York Stock Exchange completed its acquisition of Euronext, the pan-European borse. Nasdaq claims still to have ambitions to bid for the LSE, but is prevented by City regulations from bidding again until next February.

A combination of OMX, which is being advised by Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley, and the slightly larger Nasdaq, being advised by JP Morgan, would create a company worth 30% more than the LSE, which has a market value of £2.7 billion. OMX has a derivatives business that ranks behind NYSE Euronext’s Liffe, and Eurex, controlled by Deutsche Börse. It is considered particularly attractive by other exchanges because of its innovative financial-trading technology.

Nasdaq is planning to use new generation OMX technology as a base for the group, which would, it claims, deliver two-thirds of the £76m ($150m) that may be gained from the merger.

Dubai, however, might just have the last word.

The New York Stock Exchange has formally announced a $10.2 billion (£5.42 bn) cash and shares offer for Euronext today in its effort to create the first transatlantic stock market.

The Times (London) reports: “Analysts immediately predicted a new offer would come from the German operator Deutsche Börse which had indicated broad terms of a merger on Friday but without detailing a price. Euronext rejected the proposals. Under the terms of the American bid, The NYSE Group will convert its existing shares in a new company, NYSE Euronext, and then offer 0.98 of these plus €21.32 cash for each Euronext share.”

We understand that the Dubai International Financial Centre, which has been linked with an offer for Euronext, raised its stake yesterday from 1.67pc to 3.48 per cent.