LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Shares of London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE.L) are falling close to 7 percent on Wednesday after Italian lenders Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. (ISNPY.PK, IITSF.PK) and UniCredit SpA (UNCFF.PK, UCG) announced the sale of a combined 11.5 percent stake in the bourse operator.
Intesa Sanpaolo said it sold 14.5 million existing ordinary shares in LSE in an accelerated bookbuilt offering, corresponding to around 5.4 percent of the company's issued shares. The price was 960 pence per share.
Gross sales proceeds from the offering was about 139.3 million pounds. The sale is expected to benefit Intesa Sanpaolo's consolidated net income by 105 million euros.
UniCredit sold 16.6 million shares in the bourse operator, corresponding to about 6.1 percent of the company's issued shares, for the same per share price.
The gross sales proceeds were 159.5 million pounds. UniCredit's consolidated net income is expected to benefit by 120 million euros from the sale.
Both lenders have disposed of their entire holding in LSE.
LSE.L is currently trading at 951.50 pence, down 69.50 pence or 6.81 percent, on a volume of 3.04 million shares, compared to the 3-month average volume of 578,264 shares.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2012 AFX News
