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Sept 18 (Reuters) - London Stock Exchange said on
Friday it had entered into exclusive talks to sell Borsa Italian
to France's Euronext after reviewing a group of
competing bids for the Milan stock exchange.
LSE said it would consider selling the exchange at the end
of July as part of regulatory remedies needed to clear its $27
billion purchase of Refinitiv.
Data provider Refinitiv is 45% owned by Thomson Reuters
, the parent company of Reuters News.
Euronext's bid also involves Italy's Cassa Depositi e
Prestiti and Intesa Sanpaolo who will become
shareholders in the French exchange operator if the bid succeeds
by subscribing to a proposed capital increase.
"The proposed combination of Borsa Italiana and Euronext
would create a leading player in continental European capital
markets," Euronext said in a separate statement.
The Italian exchange had also attracted bids from
Switzerland's Six and Germany's Deutsche Boerse, with
sources saying that Six had submitted the highest bid of the
three.
Six and Deutsche Boerse did not immediately respond to
requests for comment.
(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru, Rachel Armstrong in
London, Mike Shields in Switzerland and Tom Sims in Franfurt;
editing by Patrick Graham and Jason Neely)
