THE London Stock Exchange secured its deal to offload the Borsa Italiana today for e4.3 billion (£3.9 billion), clearing the way for its takeover of giant data provider Refinitiv.
European regulators made the sale of the Italian exchange a condition of approval for the $27 billion Refinitiv deal. LSE rival Euronext has now landed Borsa Italiana giving it about a quarter of all equity trading in Europe.
LSE chief executive David Schwimmer hailed the deal as a “milestone”.
He said: “We believe the sale of the Borsa Italiana group will contribute significantly to addressing the EU's competition concerns. The Borsa Italiana group has played an important part in LSEG's history. We are confident that it will continue to develop successfully and contribute to the Italian economy and to European capital markets under Euronext's ownership."
Borsa Italiana CEO Raffaele Jerusalmi said: “We have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with LSEG, which has invested in and developed our business over the last 12 years. We look forward to embarking on the next phase of our history, working in partnership with Euronext, CDP Equity and Intesa Sanpaolo to further develop our business and to contribute to the development of European capital markets."
The LSE now hopes to complete the Refinitiv takeover by early 2021 at the latest.
Regulators are concerned that this deal would give the LSE too much market power, since it makes the London business one of the largest managers of financial markets with a vast supply of data.
The fear is that it could offer better prices to Refinitiv customers at the expense of the rest of the market.
