London Stock Exchange Says Its Merger Is Unlikely to Win Approval -
LONDON — The London Stock Exchange Group said late on Sunday
that European regulators were unlikely to approve its merger with Deutsche Börse, which would have created a European heavyweight in a rapidly consolidating industry.
The London exchange said regulators at the European Commission had made the sale of its majority stake in MTS, an electronic platform for trading European government bonds
and other fixed income products, a condition for approval of the Deutsche Börse transaction.
believes that the commission is unlikely to provide clearance for the merger.”
The London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse had hoped to create a potential European champion by combining stock exchanges in Britain, Germany
and Italy, as well as several of Europe’s largest clearinghouses.
In hopes of winning approval for the deal, the London Stock Exchange Group said in December
that it was in exclusive talks with Euronext over the sale of LCH S. A., the French operating arm of the LCH.
On Sunday, the London exchange said that the European Commission had unexpectedly raised new
concerns this month about the sale of LCH S. A. in relation to access to bond trading
The London exchange said at the time that it was seeking to “address proactively antitrust concerns raised by the European Commission.”
Euronext said in January that it had signed a binding offer of 510 million euros, or about $538 million, for all of LCH S. A.