The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. said this morning that it is looking at ways to divest its 31 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange Group PLC, reversing its earlier position that it did not intend to sell the shares, the Associated Press reported.

Nasdaq, which built up the stake in the LSE during a bitter takeover attempt earlier this year, said it believed its current stock price does not adequately reflect the value of its stake in the LSE.

The LSE successfully fended off Nasdaq’s $5.3 billion offer in March and has since become a buyer itself, picking up Borsa Italiana SpA for $2.19 billion.

There were fears that Nasdaq, which has announced an offer for Nordic stock exchange OMX, would use its stake to block the Borsa deal, but it let the deal pass while maintaining it had no plans to sell its shares in the LSE.

Reversing that position today, it estimated that selling the stake would increase its stand-alone earnings per share for 2008 by approximately 30 to 35 cents.