By Stefano Bernabei and Pamela Barbaglia
ROME/LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange
(LSE) has set deadlines for this week and mid-September for
indicative bids for all or parts of Borsa Italiana to help win
European Union approval for its $27 billion takeover of data
company Refinitiv, sources said on Tuesday.
The EU's competition regulator expressed concern in June
that a combination of LSE's MTS and Refinitiv, which
owns bond platform Tradeweb, would have large market share in
European government bond trading.
A month later, LSE CEO David Schwimmer said the London
exchange might sell off MTS or the entire Borsa Italiana group.
The LSE has set an Aug. 21 deadline for non-binding bids for
MTS, sources familiar with the matter said.
The sources said there was a Sept. 11 deadline as well for
non-binding bids for the entire Borsa Italiana group, which also
comprises the Milan stock exchange, and a clearing and
settlement system.
The LSE declined to comment.
"At this stage the LSE is gauging interest. The real action
will start in September," one of the sources said.
A bidding war for all of Borsa could be triggered, with
Euronext CEO Stephane Boujnah having said he wants to add Borsa
Italiana to the exchange group's stable of European bourses.
The sources said Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e
Prestiti (CDP) wanted to submit two separate bids with Euronext
for both MTS and Borsa. Italy and France would likely meet to
discuss a deal, one of them said.
Lawmakers of governing Italian party 5-Star recently crafted
a proposal with the help of Mediobanca to form a bidding
consortium for Borsa involving CDP.
Italy has approved 'golden power' legislation to block
takeovers of key companies in sectors including market
infrastructure, like Borsa.
Refinitiv is 45%-owned by Thomson Reuters, parent of Reuters
News.
(Reporting by Stefano Bernabei in Rome and Pamela Barbaglia in
London, writing by Huw Jones, editing by Mark Potter)