A consortium led by Australia's Macquarie Bank has ended weeks of speculation by announcing a hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange (LSE), valuing it at 1.5 billion pounds.

The Financial Times reported on Friday that the 580-pence-a-share offer was rejected by the exchange as "wholly inadequate."

LSE shares closed 2 pence lower at 620 pence, suggesting that Macquarie will have to raise its offer price substantially to win shareholders over.

Shareholders welcomed the emergence of a genuine cash bid after a full year of tentative offers, but said the price falls far short of what they had expected.

"It's a proper offer and it keeps them at the table," said the head of UK equities at one large investment expense."

The Takeover Panel set Dec. 15 the deadline for the Australian bank to either make a firm offer for the LSE or walk away, the report said.

Jim Crag, head of Macquarie's European operations, said, "We have made a deliverable cash offer at an attractive price."

But an LSE statement said, "We consider the offer wholly inadequate."

Source: Xinhua