( December 18, 2020, 13:10 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: London Stock Exchange Group may acquire data and trading-platforms provider Refinitiv, South Africa's Competition Commission said today. The regulator made the clearance conditional on the parties making WMR foreign-exchange benchmarks available to index-licensing customers in South Africa. The watchdog had concerns that the merged entity could restrict access to such benchmarks by competing firms.Statement follows. London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG)/ The whole business of Refinitiv Parent Limited (Refinitiv) The Commission has conditionally approved the proposed merger whereby LSEG intends to acquire Refinitiv. LSEG is a financial markets infrastructure business headquartered in London. LSEG's global business focuses on capital formation, post-trade and information and technology services. LSEG is a public limited company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales. Its shares are traded on the LSE’s Main Market for listed securities. Refinitiv provides data and insights, trading platforms, and open data and technology platforms that connect the global financial community to transact and manage risk in a safe, effective, and efficient way. Refinitiv’s services are generally available globally including throughout South Africa. Refinitiv offers a range of solutions that can broadly be divided into three primary business segments namely (i) data and analytics; (ii) capital markets and workflow solutions; and (iii) risk management services. The Commission found that the proposed transaction may raise competition concerns. In particular, the Commission noted that the merged entity may, post-merger, have the ability and incentive to restrict access to WM/R FX Benchmarks to index licensing firms that compete with it in South Africa. In order to address this concern, the Commission has imposed a condition that LSEG, as well as the Refinitiv, for the period between the approval date and implementation date and for 5 years after the implementation date, commits to make WM/R FX Benchmarks available to index licensing customers in South Africa....
Prepare for tomorrow’s regulatory change, today
MLex identifies risk to business wherever it emerges, with specialist reporters across the globe providing exclusive news and deep-dive analysis on the proposals, probes, enforcement actions and rulings that matter to your organization and clients, now and in the longer term.
Know what others in the room don’t, with features including:
- Daily newsletters for Antitrust, M&A, Trade, Data Privacy & Security, Technology, AI and more
- Custom alerts on specific filters including geographies, industries, topics and companies to suit your practice needs
- Predictive analysis from expert journalists across North America, the UK and Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific
- Curated case files bringing together news, analysis and source documents in a single timeline
Experience MLex today with a 14-day free trial.