The London Stock Exchange has received a surprise £29.6bn takeover offer from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing — a bid that threatens the UK group’s £20bn-plus acquisition of US data provider Refinitiv.

HKEX said in a statement on September 11 that it has made an offer worth 8,361 pence a share to combine the two companies. LSE shares jumped almost 9% to 7,400 pence on Wednesday morning.