(Adds more detail)
LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange on
Wednesday formally asked the European Union's competition
officials to approve its $27 billion takeover of data and
analytics company Refinitiv.
The European Commission set a June 26 deadline for its
decision, the notification said. It can clear the deal with or
without conditions or open a four-month long investigation
following the end of its preliminary review if it has serious
concerns.
Analysts expect the Commission to kick off a full-scale
investigation after June 26 because of the complexity and the
massive amount of data involved in the deal.
LSE Chief Executive David Schwimmer said last month he was
still committed to completing the deal in the second half of
2020 and had already been answering questions from the European
Commission's competition officials.
Although the LSE's proposed takeover of Refinitiv was
announced last year, EU competition regulators had requested a
delay on all filings from merger parties due to its staff having
to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Refinitiv is 45%-owned by Thomson Reuters ,
the parent company of Reuters News.
(Reporting by Huw Jones in London and Yunchee Foo in Brussels;
editing by David Evans and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)