Hong Kong wins race to buy London Metal Exchange The HKEx, which has the Chinese government as its largest shareholder, beat off competition from the US-listed Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). The sale is expected to help the LME expand in China. The LME wants to add China to its warehousing network, chief executive Martin Abbott said last month. However, fears have been raised that placing the entity that sets prices for industrial metals globally in the hands of the biggest consumer of industrial metals globally may not be a sensible move for the rest of the world. Charles Li, chief executive of HKEx said: "The acquisition of LME represents a unique opportunity for us to acquire in one stroke a position of global leadership in the commodities market. This is consistent with our strategy to expand beyond equities and equity derivatives and offers significant opportunities for revenue growth. HKEx brings a unique ability to help the LME grow its business in Asia and, particularly, China and we will capitalise on this to deliver value for all our stakeholders. We are looking forward to working with the team at the LME to achieve these objectives.