Refinitiv/LSEG: Third parties have until late next week to comment on remedies in EC review – sources
06 November 2020 - 05:26 pm UTC
Third parties have until late next week to provide feedback to the European Commission (EC) on the remedies offered by London Stock Exchange Group for its proposed acquisition of Refinitiv, according to two third-party sources.
Market testing has kicked off on the remedies which were filed with the EC yesterday (5 November), extending the merger review into January. Thursday 12 November is the deadline for third-party feedback, they indicated.
The package includes a divestment of LSEG’s Borsa Italiana unit to address horizontal overlaps in bond trading, and behavioural commitments to allay vertical concerns around interest-rate derivatives (IRDs) and access to data, as reported. Euronext has agreed to acquire Borsa Italiana for EUR 4.3bn cash.
Remedies to address vertical concerns revolve around non-discriminatory access, a source familiar with the situation said. These include an arbitration mechanism to resolve potential disputes, as well as a monitoring trustee to oversee enforcement, one of the third-party sources said.
The merging parties are confident that no major changes to the proposed package will be required, the source familiar said. The behavioural remedies sit well within the group’s existing business model of open access, this source added.
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by Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro in London, with additional reporting by Jacob Parry in Brussels
