I'm going to take a left field view and say this has got more to...

I'm going to take a left field view and say this has got more to do with great expectations plus pretty negative press from the U.K. empirialists, whose nose is very out of joint on having a take-over proposal from a 'colonial' in its face for over a month now and for another two weeks after the extension yesterday. Emotions are running high and it’s not so much about actual business. The international view is that MBL has got itself into an aquisition battle that 'it will not be allowed to win'. Perhaps but then they said that about the BBC, except that this time it is about the financial heart of Europe or English pride! How much will that cost?

Will the LSE now use these latest reports too discourage shareholders further by creating fear over Macquarie's business model. Absolutely. Macquarie’s appetite for debt and acquisition has scared some investors as Macquarie ‘according to some’ have paid too much for some assets but then they have bought quality assets, which in turn demand a higher price and I thought interest rates were not going up for the rest of the year! They are certainly not offering too much for the LSE. Not even an increase in the extension yet. The game is still unfolding as are MBL's deals in the pipeline and investment in assets can be an up and down business from which point things can only go up. I expect by the expiration of this deadline an increased offer between 640-660, which should close the deal.

Post Feb 1 the analysts are saying 2x Strong buy, 2xbuy and 4xhold. None are saying sell! Expect some volatity in the next few weeks and for the pundits it’s a good opportunity to accumulate.