经济学人下载:伦敦金属交易所

Finance and Economics；The London Metal Exchange；Metal cashing；Who wants to buy the LME?
财经；伦敦金属交易所；金属兑现；谁会买下LME？

The sight of a pack of adults shouting at each other is rarely edifying. Unless, that is, the set-to is in the “ring” of the London Metal Exchange (LME), whose old-fashioned system of open-outcry trading does much to set global prices for industrial metals and which is now itself the subject of a bidding battle. Only Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing had publicly said that it would submit an offer for the world’s leading metals exchange by this week’s deadline of May 7th, but CME Group, InterContinental Exchange and NYSE Euronext are also widely reported to be in the frame.

那群家伙聚在一起相互吼叫一点用都没有，除非能在伦敦金属交易所（LME）的“擂台”上互殴一顿。LME老式的公开叫价贸易系统对全球工业金属价格有着深远的影响，但是现在LME已沦为竞购的对象。在这周的截止日期之前（5月7日），只有香港交易所公开表示会对这个世界领先的金属交易所提出报价，但芝加哥商业交易所、洲际交易所和纽约泛欧交易所的染指也诸见报端。

The member-owned LME, which started business 135 years ago in premises above a hat shop in the City of London, resolved last year to see what it might be worth to globalising rivals. As one of the world’s few remaining member-owned exchanges it is an inviting target, even at an estimated price of 1 billion Euro(1.6 billion dollar). Acquiring it would give all the likely suitors a bigger global footprint, important for any ambitious exchange group, and a ready-made business in non-ferrous metals, demand for which has rocketed on the back of China’s rise.

采用会员制的LME在伦敦的一家帽子店开业以来，已经有了135年的历史，在去年引发全球竞争也是理所应当，作为世界上仅剩的几家会员制交易所之一，它自然是一块诱人的大蛋糕，其估价甚至达到了10亿英镑（约合16亿美元）。得到它能够让买家向全球化迈出更大的步伐，这对任何一个有雄心的交易所都是至关重要的，而且，面对中国经济的腾飞，各大竞标机构就更想得到这个现成的有色金属贸易机构。

But the bidders have a tricky balancing-act to pull off. To satisfy their own shareholders, they must seek out the ample opportunities to boost profits at the LME by shifting to centralised clearing, cutting costs, raising fees and introducing more electronic trading at the expense of open outcry. But this is unlikely to appeal to the LME’s members, which include some of the world’s biggest banks (JPMorgan Chase is its largest shareholder). The exchange makes meagre returns precisely because it has kept fees so low. 

为了实现目标，竞标者还要进行一些棘手的协调工作。为了让股东满意，他们必须利用各种机会来提高LME的红利，比如改成中央清算方式、降低成本、提升会费和引进更多的电子交易系统以改变传统的公开叫价方式。但是这些措施不大可能赢得会员的好感，包括世界上最大的几个的银行（摩根大通是最大的股东），而LME的盈利太少恰恰是因为会费太低了。

The LME may decide to carry on alone if a potential bidder cannot reassure its members over the changes they would introduce. But competition is hotting up. The Shanghai Futures Exchange, set up in 1999, traded around 300m contracts last year, twice as many as the LME, even if those in London are typically far bigger. The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange is also set to launch a copper contract soon. Teaming up with a bigger exchange, which will bring more liquidity and some fresh thinking, is an idea worth shouting about.

如果潜在买家带来的改变不能打消会员的疑虑的话，LME可能会决定继续独自运营下去。但是现在的金属交易市场竞争正日益加剧，1999年成立的上海期货交易所在去年有着3亿次的成交量，这是LME的两倍（虽然LME的交易总额更大一些），并且香港商品交易所也开始准备试水铜期货。能够与更大的交易所联手会带来更多的流动资产和更加新颖的思路，而这些才真正值得他们争吵的。