Last September, while protesters in Hong Kong were vandalizing mass transit stations and shattering windows to vent their anger over China’s encroachment on the former British colony, the leaders of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (HKEX) flew to London on a secret mission.
Laura Cha, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Credit: Remy Steinegger/World Economic Forum, Creative Commons
On a humid, overcast morning, Laura Cha and Charles Li, the chairwoman and chief executive of the Hong Kong exchange, entered the headquarters of the London Stock Exchange in Paternoster Square and made an unsolicited, $36.6 billion offer to buy the venerable exchange.
The merger promised to create the world’s biggest financial exchange, a formidable bourse that could serve as an international gateway, connecting East and West. Businesses in China that were hungry for capital would be more easily matched up with overseas investors who were eager for a stake in China’s economic r
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