£20bn LSE tie-up with Refinitiv is signed off

THE London Stock Exchange has completed its whopping £20bn acquisition of data firm Refinitiv.

The merger creates a company to rival the likes of Bloomberg, S&P Global and Intercontinental Exchange in everything from data to clearing and trading.

The Refinitiv takeover includes taking on the data provider’s net debt of £9bn. While the investors selling Refinitiv, led by US private equity giant Blackstone, will get a 37pc stake.

LSE chief executive David Schwimmer said his main focus was now on completing the integration of LSE and Refinitiv, bolstering the exchange’s indexes business with data from Refinitiv, and broadening out share trading with fixed income and FX trading.

He added that much of the integration has already been planned, despite both companies grappling with pandemic restrictions.

‘I wouldn’t recommend trying to do a large scale integration in the context of a global lockdown, but the team has done a fantastic job,’ Schwimmer said.

Earlier this month the European Commission backed the deal, paving the way for the LSE to form a powerhouse in financial markets.

The mega deal has seen the advisers and investment bankers who worked on it earn more than £830m.

Yesterday Schwimmer said he wanted the Government to push ahead with listing rules reforms to make the London stock market a serious challenger to Wall Street.

He warned that Britain will miss out on the next wave of tech companies to list on the stock market unless it overhauls its rules fast.