(Adds quote, context)
By Valentina Za, Matthieu Protard and Pamela Barbaglia
MILAN/PARIS/LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Euronext
and Italy's Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) confirmed on Friday
they were in talks to make a joint bid for Borsa Italiana, with
rival offers from Swiss exchange Six and Deutsche Boerse also in
the offing.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE), which bought the
Milan-based stock exchange in 2007 for 1.6 billion euros ($1.9
billion), is now trying to sell it as part of antitrust remedies
to help get its $27 billion takeover of Refinitiv over the line.
Data provider Refinitiv is 45% owned by Thomson Reuters
, which is the parent company of Reuters News.
Pan-European exchange Euronext and CDP will face competition
from Switzerland's Six and Deutsche Boerse, which are
both planning their own bids for Borsa Italiana, three sources
familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The three bids are expected to land on Friday, meeting an
initial deadline set by LSE, a fourth source said.
The LSE, Six and Deutsche Boerse declined to comment.
The LSE has already received separate bids for Borsa's bond
trading platform MTS and will need to decide whether it wants to
break up Borsa or opt for an outright sale, this source said.
The Italian Treasury is playing kingmaker as so-called
golden power legislation means it can block any unwanted
takeover of Borsa, deemed a key asset by Italian lawmakers.
"Rome is an important part of the discussions. LSE will do
everything to keep Rome happy. But it won't sell Borsa on the
cheap," the fourth source said.
The Italian government is firmly against a break-up of Borsa
and wants to have a say over its future strategy and management,
several sources have said.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Euronext had granted CDP
significant influence in the combined business to secure an
alliance with the Italian state agency.
CDP is set to take a stake of around 8% in Euronext,
equalling that held by French state investor Caisse des Depots
et Consignations, sources have said.
($1 = 0.8427 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za in Milan, Matthieu Protard in Paris
and Pamela Barbaglia in London; Editing by James Mackenzie,
David Clarke and Alexander Smith)