Stock Exchange legal head quits

The head of legal at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has quit his post in the middle of the institution's fight against a hostile bid by OM Gruppen.

Allan Cameron officially left his post on 29 September, but is known to be on gardening leave. Steven Travers, a solicitor at the LSE, will officially take over from Cameron today (2 October).

It remains unclear where Cameron is moving to, although one source says: "If he's on gardening leave then it must be somewhere [the LSE] don't want him to go."

His departure coincides with a period of extreme unrest at the LSE. Its plans to merge with Deutsche Börse to form iX were shelved to concentrate on defending itself from OM's £800m bid, which the LSE recommended its shareholders to reject on 25 September.

Herbert Smith is acting for the LSE on its defence, led by corporate partner Stephen Barnard, while a team at Lovells led by Hugh Nineham is advising OM on its approach.