Nasdaq maysell LSE stake, focus on OMX

By Daisy Ku and Anupreeta Das

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nasdaq Stock Market Inc (NDAQ.O), under pressure to expand overseas, may sell its one-third stake in the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) to bolster its chances of buying Nordic exchange operator OMX OMX.ST.

Nasdaq CEO Robert Greifeld told analysts during a conference call on Monday that investment bank advisers were already in touch with interested parties, and he was confident that bidders would surface.

Nasdaq later said in a statement it would not sell its LSE stake to any single buyer.

Greifeld said the value of Nasdaq's market capitalization did not reflect the LSE stake, which would be a "source of constraint."

While there have been successful exchange mergers, like the one that created NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) earlier this year, the LSE has rebuffed Nasdaq, leaving the largest U.S. electronic stock market locked in a $4 billion bidding war for OMX against state-owned Borse Dubai.

OMX owns exchanges in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and the Baltic states.

A decline in Nasdaq's stock price has caused a drop in the value of the company's cash-and-share offer for OMX. The deal was worth roughly 204 crowns a share at Friday's close, while Borse Dubai on Friday announced an all-cash bid of 230 crowns per share.

A sale of Nasdaq's 61.3 million LSE shares, which are valued at about 797 million pounds ($1.58 billion) at current prices, may be a precursor to the exchange raising its bid for

OMX.

Greifeld did not comment on whether Nasdaq would raise its bid, but said he was meeting with Swedish investors and shareholders.

Nasdaq can and will remain flexible in terms of structuring its offer for OMX, Greifeld said.

The Nasdaq-OMX deal has the support of Sweden's business community and OMX shareholders, he said.

RAISING THE BID?

"The announcement that Nasdaq is going to sell stock is a strong indicator that they are going to raise the bid," said David Easthope of financial consultant Celent.

Borse Dubai's offer represents a 13 percent premium to Nasdaq's bid of 0.502 shares plus 94.3 crowns in cash for each OMX share.