By Elvira Pollina and Pamela Barbaglia
MILAN/LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Swiss stock exchange
operator Six has made the highest offer for Borsa Italiana and
is ahead of France's Euronext and Germany's Deutsche
Boerse in the takeover battle for the Milan bourse,
two sources familiar with the matter said.
The three bids value Borsa Italiana at 3.5 billion euros to
4 billion euros ($4.15-$4.74 billion), one of the sources said.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE), which took control
of Borsa in 2007 for 1.6 billion euros, is now trying to sell it
as part of the regulatory remedies to clear its $27 billion
acquisition of data provider Refinitiv.
Six became Europe's third-largest stock exchange operator by
revenue after completing a 2.57 billion euro takeover of Spanish
rival BME earlier this year.
Six and the other bidders declined to comment.
($1 = 0.8433 euros)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina in Milan and Pamela Barbaglia in
London, editing by Louise Heavens)