The giant game of Twister goes on. Borse Dubai has allowed Nasdaq a free run at OMX, the Nordic group that both exchanges had targeted. The structure is mind-boggling, but Borse Dubai will, in effect, buy OMX then immediately sell it to Nasdaq, on the US exchange’s original terms for its cash-and-stock offer. In return, Nasdaq will sell Dubai a 28 per cent stake in the London Stock Exchange, while taking about a third of DIFX, Dubai’s international exchange.

This complicated knot of bodies is being presented as a strategic alliance to forge the first global exchange platform, linking the ever elusive “pools of liquidity” in America, Europe and the Middle East. Look a little closer and it’s the old two-way merger of Nasdaq and OMX with a third-party grafted on. Borse Dubai will get two seats on an expanded, 16-strong board.