Nasdaq faces a credit rating cut to junk if its takeover approach for the London Stock Exchange is successful and involves "a material amount" of debt funding.

Nasdaq is rated low triple-B, the lowest investment grade rating, by Standard & Poor's, which said yesterday the US exchange's $4.2bn (€3.5bn) conditional takeover proposal for the LSE could have rating implications "should Nasdaq prevail and finance the transaction with a material amount of debt."