LME Said to Get Assurance From Bidders to Keep U.K. Base

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. pledged to keep the London Metal Exchange and its trading floor in the U.K. capital in their separate takeover proposals to the LME’s board, said two people with direct knowledge of the bids.

The LME’s board met yesterday to review the offers, said the people, who declined to be identified because the details are still confidential. ICE, the second-largest U.S. futures market, and Hong Kong Exchanges, the world’s second-biggest exchange by market value, are the remaining contenders for the LME, which handles more than 80 percent of global trade in industrial metals futures. A possible takeover was announced last September when the LME said it had received “several expressions of interest.”