(Adds more background)
LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - London Stock Exchange
said on Tuesday that it should complete its $27 billion
acquisition of Refinitiv on Jan. 29, as it bulks up into a major
financial data provider to compete with Bloomberg.
The company said it expected all outstanding regulatory
approvals for the deal to come "shortly", enabling it to close
the all-share deal in coming days. The deal was approved by the
European Union on Jan. 13.
The market for financial information has exploded with the
advent of computer-driven trading, triggering a flurry of
takeovers as companies seek to create one-stop shops to serve
clients and get an edge over traditional rivals in supplying
data, dubbed the "new oil".
The European Commission, which oversees competition policy
in the 27-nation EU, said last week its antitrust investigation
found a number of concerns about the Refinitiv deal but that
they would be addressed by "remedies", which include the sale of
LSE's Borsa Italiana, which runs the Milan stock exchange.
Pan-European bourse Euronext has already agreed to
buy Borsa Italiana for 4.3 billion euros ($5.2 billion), subject
to the Refinitiv takeover getting the green light.
Refinitiv is 45%-owned by Reuters News' parent Thomson
Reuters. Thomson Reuters sold the majority of the business in
2018 to a consortium led by private equity giant Blackstone in a
deal that valued the data provider at around $20 billion.
A combined LSE and Refinitiv will still be eclipsed by
Bloomberg LP, but will outrank a combination of S&P and IHS
Markit, whose $44 billion tie-up was announced last year.
(Reporting by Rachel Armstrong; Editing by Edmund Blair and
Mark Heinrich)
