Trading on the London Metal Exchange jumped by more than a fifth last year to hit record levels, according to figures released this morning, as London’s oldest commodity exchange weighs up takeover interest from as many as 10 potential bidders.

Trading on the exchange topped 146m lots for 2011, a 21.9% increase on the previous year, while the notional value of all contracts traded surged 32.8% to $15.4 trillion - the equivalent of 3.5bn tonnes of material.