Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has made a ￡32bn bid to buy the London Stock Exchange Group, in a move that threatens to upend the UK operator’s own blockbuster takeover and comes at a time of political turmoil in Hong Kong.

The operator of the Hong Kong exchange stunned investors with its proposal, which values LSE shares at ￡83.61 and is designed at “bringing together the largest and most significant financial centres in Asia and Europe”, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The bid comes at a critical juncture for the global exchange industry as well as for Hong Kong and the UK politically. Exchange operators are increasingly shifting away from the bread and butter of trading into the business of supplying and monetising the data that is at the heart of markets. In late July, the LSE agreed to buy the data and trading group Refinitiv for $27bn in an effort to take on global heavyweights such as Intercontinental Exchange.