Shareholders of The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) have approved the stock exchange company’s $27bn acquisition of financial markets data provider Refinitiv.
The approval from the shareholders was nearly unanimous with 99.27% voting for a resolution supporting the acquisition. Another resolution, which is for giving authority to allot shares of LSEG in connection with the transaction, secured 99.26% votes.
It was in August 2019 when the British stock exchange company signed an all-stock deal with a group including some investment funds affiliated with Blackstone and also Thomson Reuters to acquire Refinitiv. LSEG took up the deal in a move to create a global financial markets infrastructure (FMI) provider.
The closing of the deal remains to be subject to the receipt of relevant antitrust and regulatory clearances among other things. LSEG said that the relevant processes are in progress.
The stock exchange company stated: “Given the Transaction is classified as a Reverse Takeover of LSEG plc under the Listing Rules of the FCA, the Transaction is also conditional on the FCA and London Stock Exchange agreeing to re-admit LSEG plc’s enlarged voting ordinary share capital to the premium listing segment of the Official List and to trading on London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities (“Admission”).”
LSEG claimed that it is making good progress on integration planning and that the acquisition continues to be on track for a closing during the second half of next year.
What Refinitiv does
Headquartered in London, Refinitiv offers financial data and infrastructure to its clients across the world. The company provides data, insight, and analytics that are customised to workflows across its four major customer segments of investment and advisory, trading, wealth, and risk management.
The financial markets data provider is said to serve more than 40,000 customer institutions across 190 countries. Its client base includes buy and sell-side firms, governments, financial technology companies, market infrastructure firms, and corporations.
Refinitiv’s trading venues business includes the Tradeweb trading platform, in which it has majority ownership, and the FXAll and Matching platforms, among others.
Post-acquisition, Refinitiv’s existing shareholders will hold nearly 37% economic interest in the enlarged LSEG.
