The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. has bumped up its stake in the London Stock Exchange plc to 22.7%.

Nasdaq announced that it has acquired another 10,291,440 shares in the London Stock Exchange for a price of £12.48 per share. The consideration represents approximately £ 128.4 million (US$239.3 million).

In addition to the 47,890,280 shares previously owned, this acquisition takes Nasdaq’s holding in the LSE to 58,181,720 shares or 22.7% of the issued share capital of LSE.

“We are pleased to have increased our strategic stake in LSE through this significant purchase, which takes us through the important threshold of 20%. We look forward to working constructively with LSE as its largest shareholder,” commented Bob Greifeld, president and chief executive officer of Nasdaq.

Following on today’s earlier announcement the Nasdaq Stock Market has added a further 3.5 million shares in the LSE, again at £12.48 per share. This takes Nasdaq’s stake in the coveted exchange to 24.1%, or about 61.7 million shares. The cost of this latest block of shares totals approximately £43.7 million (US$81.4 million).