LSE boss Rolet to bow out with £21m share bonanza

Departing boss Xavier Rolet will receive nearly £21m worth of shares - Teri Pengilley

The boss of the London Stock Exchange, Xavier Rolet, will be bidding adieu to the top job next year with nearly £21m worth of shares. 

The Frenchman, who told investors last week that he would be leaving the exchange by December 2018, currently owns 547,588 shares in the group – a windfall of £20.8m when converted into cash.

The shareholding has rocketed in value since he took the helm in May 2009, when the company’s shares were worth less than £5. Back then his holding would have led to a payout of just £2.7m, but today the LSE’s shares are trading at around £38. The share package brings the amount he has earned since joining close to £60m. 

The Frenchman has steered the LSE through a string of acquisitions since joining from Lehman Brothers almost nine years ago, bumping up the group’s market capitalisation from £800m to almost £14bn today. However, he failed to secure a tie-up with Deutsche Boerse, a deal which would have been the  biggest in its history but was blocked by the European Commission for competition reasons in March. 

A spokesman said: “This was built up over his tenure.  “Xavier’s track record in delivering shareholder value speaks for itself – with a near 10-fold increase in the share price under his leadership.”