Citing three unidentified people familiar with the talks, Bloomberg says the LSE would provide a £25 million cash injection to Turquoise in return for its stake.

The London exchange, which is also talking to other banks interested in joining the venture, has the option to reduce its stake to 51%, the people said.

The nine shareholders of Turquoise will own about 40% of the venture, which will retain the Turquoise name, but will operate on technology supplied by the LSE tech subsidiary MillenniumIT.

The newswire says an agreement could be tied-up by the end of the year.