London Stock Exchange ready to sell off US business.

The London Stock Exchange Group who own and operate AIM and The Main Market has confirmed that it is to sell the asset management business it acquired as part of its $2.7bn purchase of Russell Investments, the index provider.

Holland Bendelow believe the outcome was anticipated, even before the London Stock Exchange began a strategic review of the unit once the deal for its parent was completed in November.

John Holland says “Some market participants had suggested that the long-term ownership of Russell Investments may put the London Stock Exchange in a conflict of interest situation with some of its users”.

London Stock Exchange Group has already received a number of expressions of interest in a potential acquisition of Russell Investment Management.

John Holland believes that the asset management division which has around $260bn under management could be offloaded to a rival, or to a private equity business, and that the asset could be worth in the region of $1bn.

The London Stock Exchange bought Russell Investments which is well known for compiling equity indices, as a strategic push into the US, the world’s biggest fund management market and the largest single market for exchange traded funds, as well as consolidating its position in the fast-growing market for data and indices.