Singapore clears LSE deal for Refinitiv after FX pledge
5:42 am Monday, May 24th, 2021
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Singapore’s competition authority has approved the London Stock Exchange Group’s $27 billion acquisition of data and analytics company Refinitiv provided the bourse continues to offer certain foreign exchange benchmarks to rivals.
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS)gave the conditional approval after examining whether the deal, which transforms the 300 year old bourse into a one-stop shop for data, trading and analytics, threatened competition in the currency market.
The LSE has committed to making Refinitiv’s WM/Reuters foreign exchange benchmarks available to existing and future customers to provide index licencing services or clearing services in Singapore, CCCS said in a statement, adding that the commitment, effective from Monday, was for 10 years.
The LSE declined to comment.
European Union antitrust regulators cleared the deal in January, subject to conditions which included LSE’s sale of its Borsa Italiana operations.
Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters News, holds a 15% stake in the LSE following the Refinitiv deal.
(Reporting by Alun John; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Carmel Crimmins)
