The Dubai Stock Exchange has finally signalled its willingness to sell its stake in the London Stock Exchange to Qatar. The deal would end a bitter rivalry between Dubai and Qatar over their involvement in the LSE.

The offer amounts to a stake swap between the Gulf states following Qatar’s decision to sell its holding in OMX, the Scandinavian exchange, to Dubai this month.

Essa Kazim, Borse Dubai’s chairman, commented, “If the Qatari Government wishes to strike a deal in the future, then it would be subject to negotiation.”

When the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) sold its 9.98pc stake in OMX to Dubai last week, some analysts believed that a reciprocal deal over the London exchange was off the table because Qatar had expressed no interest in acquiring Dubai’s LSE shares at the time.

In effect, Kazim said that Borse Dubai had not agreed to any deal “whatsoever”, but his comments suggest that a share sale could be negotiated.

In a complex transaction, Dubai and New York’s Nasdaq are expected to finalize a $4.9 billion (£2.5 billion) deal to buy OMX. Dubai would then pass OMX to Nasdaq in exchange for a 19.9pc stake in the new company. It would also acquire Nasdaq’s existing 28pc stake in the LSE.

Some of those shares could be sold then to Qatar, which currently owns 15pc of the LSE through $60 billion sovereign wealth fund. QIA is thought to want the stake to expand its own capital markets.

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.

The London Stock Exchange is looking for a new name for the business that will own the merged LSE and Borsa Italiana.

Although the London exchange will retain its own name, the new entity will reflect the two components of the company, the LSE announced.

The London Stock Exchange has undergone yet more changes in its make-up as a result of the frantic tussle between rival Gulf States, Qatar and Dubai.

Dubai currently holds 29 percent of LSE shares after buying up most of the Nasdaq stake. Qatar has 21 percent but seeks more.

The LSE board sees the Qataris as friendly invaders — with a seat at the top table — and plans to help Dohar in Qatar become a world-class financial centre.

Meanwhile, the partnership between Nasdaq and Dubai (which owns 20 percent of the American exchange, while Nasdaq has 30 percent of the Dubai International Financial Center) is close to gaining control of Swedish-based exchange group, OMX, also a target for the Qatar Investment Authority.

American predator, Nasdaq, is reported to have agreed a deal to sell it’s 31 percent shareholding in the London Stock Exchange to the state-owned Qatar Investment Authority for £14 ($28) a share.

Nasdaq needs the money to raise its offer for the Scandinavian group, OMX.

So far, the motives of the Qataris for buying the share bundle is unknown. As a prelude to a full-scalle takeover bid, it would be unwelcome. The LSE would prefer a buyer who will support its long-term plans.