The London Metal Exchange confirmed Friday it has joined the consortium of banks and brokers which is collectively considering a possible offer for LCH.Clearnet Group Ltd.

"The LME is currently a shareholder of LCH.Clearnet with some 5% of the equity," its chief executive, Martin Abbott, said.

"Clearing is a critically important part of the LME's operations and this decision has been made in order to preserve the LME's position with LCH.Clearnet in the event of a successful approach," he added.

LCH.Clearnet first announced it had been approached by a consortium of banks and financial institutions in February. The consortium currently includes Barclays Capital, the investment banking divison of Barclays PLC (BARC.LN), Credit Suisse Group (CS), Citigroup Inc. (C), Deutsche Bank AG (DB), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), HSBC Holdings PLC (0005.HK), ICAP PLC (IAP.LN), JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS), UBS AG (UBSN.VX), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Nomura Holdings Inc. (NMR).

The offer on the table is for EUR11 a share, of which EUR8 would be paid up front and the remainder dependent on other factors such as revenues.

The consortium offer follows on the heels of a heads of a merger agreement between LCH.Clearnet and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, or DTCC, which is the largest clearing house in the U.S. That EUR10 a share proposal was first announced Oct. 22, but due diligence ended a few weeks ago when DTCC pulled out.

-By Andrea Hotter, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9413; andrea.hotter@dowjones.com