London Metal Exchange hopeful of 2012 takeover completion

The London Metal Exchange is hopeful of completing its takeover by the Hong Kong stock exchange by the end of 2012, LME chief executive Martin Abbott told the start of a industry conference on Monday.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) agreed to buy the 135-year-old LME in June, when it was valued at 1.39 billion (US$2.15 billion, 1.77 billion euros).

The following month, LME shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the takeover.

"We will be legally owned by the HKEx hopefully by the end of this year" following approval by regulators, Abbott told LME Week -- a key annual event in the global metals industry calendar.

HKEx has said its purchase of the LME -- the world's largest exchange trading nonferrous metals, including copper and aluminum -- will boost its role as the bridge between China and international markets.

HKEx chief executive Charles Li on Monday said that a review into warehouse storage was ongoing amid market concerns that consumers were facing delays to deliveries of metals traded on the LME.

Abbott added: "We implemented changes last April on delivery obligations, we started a review, we are now in the process of this review. We're not going to say anything for some time on what we will or will not do."