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IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (0388.HK) have been asked to resubmit their proposals to buy the London Metal Exchange on June 7, a senior LME executive told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

"Following presentations made by the two remaining bidders at the board meeting of May 31, the two bidders have been asked to resubmit their proposals on June 7," said LME head of business development Chris Evans, without naming the bidders.

"We then anticipate a further period of consideration by the board," he said.

Both ICE and Hong Kong Exchanges are vying to be chosen as the preferred bidder for LME. Once the decision is made, shareholders in the LME, who are also its members, will be canvassed over the next several weeks until voting takes place at an Extraordinary General Meeting, the date of which isn't yet known.

This makes a decision on a preferred bidder next week less likely, people familiar with the matter said.

Both ICE Chief Executive Jeff Sprecher and Hong Kong Exchanges CEO Charles Li have been in London this week, meeting shareholders to convince them to sell, and presenting to the LME board.

A sale isn't guaranteed--it needs approval from 75% of shareholder votes and 50% of LME members.

Given that no changes to the way the LME is currently run are being proposed, members will need to be convinced the existing exchange cannot deliver the growth that the preferred bidder says it can. They'll also need to decide whether or not they are prepared to sell their shares for a one-off cash hit.

Both the proposals includes the commitment to keep the LME's business model intact. This means it won't move to close the floor, change the daily dates system to monthly, or overhaul the warehousing system, which has attracted some flack in recent months due to ownership and delivery concerns.

ICE pledges to swiftly integrate the LME into its clearing platform, introducing a plethora of new cleared products including a focus on developing the exchange's options business, relatively small in comparison to its futures volumes. New users from other asset classes would be attracted by tapping into ICE's global platforms, the company proposes.

Hong Kong Exchanges meanwhile pledges to work hand-in-hand with the LME to develop a bespoke clearing platform designed specifically for the metals exchange.

It also says it would use its close ties with the world's largest metal consumer, China--a central theme of its bid--to help the LME achieve its long-sought goal of licensing independent firms to run warehouses in Chinese locations. Volumes would grow by attracting new Chinese clients, it says, and hand-holding some of them through the process of becoming new LME members.

The LME is central to the global trade of industrial metals, being the world's largest metals exchange and accounting for at least 80% of trade in nonferrous metals such as copper and aluminum.

Both ICE and Hong Kong Exchanges declined to comment.

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

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