What’s with that Australian institution casting a predatory eye over the London Stock Exchange? The British press responds to Macquarie Bank’s expression of interest in Europe’s biggest stock market:

The takeover battle for the LSE has taken a new twist since Macquarie threw its hat in the ring, says Julia Kollewe in The Independent. The bank is dubbed the “Millionaires Factory” because of the large salaries it pays, says Richard Irving in The Times. And if it does make a successful bid, it’s likely to repackage the LSE into one of its specialist investment funds quoted in Sydney.

Macquarie Bank’s logo may resemble a polo mint, says Clay Harris in The Financial Times, but it’s based on the Holey Dollar, created by early Australian governor Lachlan Macquarie to deal with a currency shortage. Macquarie bought Spanish silver dollars and punched out the centres to create two coins – the outer ring that became the Holey Dollar, valued at 5 shillings, and the bit punched from the middle, the Dump, valued at 1s/3d. This gave Macquarie the distinction of having doubled the number of coins in circulation while increasing their overall value by 25%. But will similar “financial engineering” be needed to make the numbers add up for an LSE bid? asks Harris.

Macquarie’s tilt at the world of exchanges has certainly raised some eyebrows in the City, says Kollewe, with some insiders questioning the business case – it has no interests in stock exchanges or trading platforms and is thus unable to offer any revenue or cost-cutting gains. But privately, the LSE must be thrilled, says Kollewe. The possibility of an auction instantly drove its share price up 4.7%. And Macquarie rarely withdraws an offer, says Irving – and is “also known to pay top price for assets.”