Ex.7. Fill in the blanks with the following terms and expressions. Render the text in Russian

Terms: a) financial rules; b) takeover offer; c) struck a deal; d) additional shares; e) raise its bid; f) increased its stake to; g) shareholding; h) facilitating a structural shift in volume growth; i) securities; j) exchange traded funds; k) real-time prices

Text:

Pursuit of LSE by prospective merger partners

Nasdaq

In December 2005, the London Stock Exchange rejected a £1.6 billion 1)__________ from Macquarie Bank. The London Stock Exchange described the offer as “derisory”, a sentiment echoed by shareholders in the exchange. Shortly after Macquarie withdrew its offer, LSE received an unsolicited approach from NASDAQ valuing the company at £2.4 billion. This, too it duly rejected. NASDAQ later pulled its bid, and less than two weeks later on April 11, 2006, 2)__________ with LSE’s largest shareholder, Ameriprise Financial’s Threadneedle Asset Management unit, to acquire all of that firm’s stake, consisting of 35.4 million shares, at £11.75 per share. NASDAQ also purchased 2.69 million 3)__________, resulting in a total stake of 15%. While the seller of those shares was undisclosed, it occurred simultaneously with a sale by Scottish Widows of 2.69 million shares. The move was seen as an effort to force LSE to the negotiating table, as well as to limit the Exchange’s strategic flexibility.

Subsequent purchases increased NASDAQ’s stake to 25.1%, holding off competing bids for several months. The United Kingdom 4)__________ required that NASDAQ wait for a period of time before renewing its effort. On November 20, 2006, within a month or two of the expiration of this period, NASDAQ 5)__________ 28.75% and launched a hostile offer at the minimum permitted bid of £12.43 per share, which was the highest NASDAQ had paid on the open market for its existing shares. The LSE immediately rejected this bid, stating that it “substantially undervalues” the company.

NASDAQ revised its offer (characterized as an “unsolicited” bid, rather than a “hostile takeover attempt”) on December 12, 2006, indicating that it would be able to complete the deal with 50% (plus one share) of LSE’s stock, rather than the 90% it had been seeking. The U.S. exchange did not, however, 6)__________. Many hedge funds had accumulated large positions within the LSE, and many managers of those funds, as well as Furse, indicated that the bid was still not satisfactory. NASDAQ’s bid was made more difficult because it had described its offer as “final”, which, under British bidding rules, restricted their ability to raise its offer except under certain circumstances.

In the end, NASDAQ’s offer was roundly rejected by LSE shareholders. Having received acceptances of only 0.41 per cent of the rest of the register by the deadline on February 10, 2007, Nasdaq’s offer duly lapsed. Responding to the news, Chris Gibson-Smith, LSE’s chairman, said: “The Exchange’s strategy has produced outstanding results for shareholders by 7)__________ in an increasingly international market at the centre of the world’s equity flows. The Exchange intends to build on its exceptionally valuable brand by progressing various competitive, collaborative and strategic opportunities, thereby reinforcing its uniquely powerful position in a fast evolving global sector”.

On August 20, 2007, NASDAQ announced that it was abandoning its plan to take over LSE and subsequently look for options to divest its 31% (61.3 million shares) 8)__________ in the company in light of its failed takeover attempt. In September 2007, NASDAQ agreed to sell the majority of its shares to Borse Dubai, leaving the United Arab Emirates-based exchange with 28% of the LSE.