The prospective buyer of the London Metal Exchangehas warned that it will clamp down on the lucrative metal warehousing business that has attracted investments from Goldman Sachsand Glencore.
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, which on Friday announced an agreement to buy the 135-year-old group for £1.4bn, said it was planning to change the rules governing the LME’s network of warehouses in an attempt to shorten the wait to take delivery of metal.
Long queues to remove aluminium from LME warehouses have sparked angry confrontations between consumers of metal, such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and General Motors, and warehouse owners, including Goldman, JPMorgan, Glencore and Trafigura.