The largest hedge fund shareholder in the London Stock Exchange may have a crucial say in the future of the sought-after market, having boosted its stake by almost half in the last two months, despite the prospect of the LSE's share price taking a hit as Nasdaq sells its 31% stake.

Horizon Asset Management and Kinetics Asset Management have been buying LSE shares steadily in recent weeks and today took their holding in LSE stock to 14.16%, according to UK regulatory filings. Only two months ago, they had only 9.5% of stock, according to Bloomberg data.