euronext joins bid battle for lse pan-european stock market euronext has approached the london stock exchange (lse) about a possible takeover bid.   the approach is at an early stage and therefore does not require a response at this point   lse said. talks with the european stock market and with rival bidder deutsche boerse will continue  the lse said. last week  the group rejected a £1.3bn ($2.5bn) takeover offer from deutsche boerse  claiming that it undervalued the business. lse saw its shares surge 4.9% to a new high of 583p in early trade  following the announcement on monday.  the offer follows widespread media speculation that euronext would make an offer for lse. experts now widely expect a bidding war for europe s biggest stock market  which lists stocks with a total capitalisation of £1.4 trillion  to break out. commentators say that a deal with euronext  which owns the liffe derivatives exchange in london and combines the paris  amsterdam and lisbon stock exchanges  could potentially offer the lse more cost savings than a deal with deutsche boerse.  a weekend report in the telegraph had quoted an unnamed executive at euronext as saying the group would make a cash bid to trump deutsche boerse s offer.  because we already own liffe in london  the cost savings available to us from a merger are far greater than for deutsche boerse   the newspaper quoted the executive as saying. euronext chief executive jean-francois theodore is reported to have already held private talks with lse s chief executive clara furse. further reports had suggested that euronext could make an offer in excess of the lse s 533p a share closing price on friday. however  euronext said it could not guarantee  at this stage  that a firm offer would be made for lse. there has been extensive speculation about a possible takeover of the company since an attempted merger with deutsche boerse failed in 2000.