EU COMMISSION CONDITIONALLY APPROVES THE ACQUISITION OF REFINITIV BY THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE GROUP

13.01.2021

The European Commission has conditionally approved the acquisition of Refinitiv by the London Stock Exchange Group (“LSEG”). According to the Commission, the commitments LSEG offered will ensure that the market will remain open and competitive.

The Commission's investigation focused on trading services for European Governments Bonds (“EGBs”), where both parties are active, as well as on the provision of financial data products and the provision of trading and clearing services for over-the-counter interest rate derivatives (“OTC IRDs”), where one party is active upstream of the other in the value chain.

In order to address the Commission’s competition concerns, LSEG offered;

• To divest its 99.9% stake in the Borsa Italiana group, which includes MTS (LSEG's trading venue for EGBs), to a suitable purchaser;
• To continue offering its global OTC IRDs clearing services performed by London Clearing House Swapclear on an open access basis and to not engage in commercial strategies that would discriminate customers based on the source of their OTC IRD trade submitted to LSEG for clearing.
• To provide access to the LSE venue data, FTSE UK Equity Indices, and WM/R FX Benchmarks to all existing and future downstream competitors. 

The commitments also include a fast track and binding dispute resolution mechanism that can be relied upon by third parties who believe that LSEG does not comply with these commitments.

You can read the Commission’s announcement here.

Should you have any queries and/or remarks, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr