The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Refinitiv, a provider of financial data products by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) on condition of full compliance with a commitments package offered by LSEG.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “Infrastructure competition in trading services and access to financial data products on fair and equal terms is essential for the European economy and in particular for consumers and businesses.

“Today, we can approve the proposed acquisition of Refinitiv by LSEG because LSEG offered commitments that will ensure that the markets will remain open and competitive and the acquisition will not lead to higher prices or less choice and innovation for these products.”

Today's decision follows an in-depth investigation of the proposed transaction, which combines the activities of LSEG, a global financial markets infrastructure business and Refinitiv. LSEG is. Refinitiv, which offers financial data products, also controls Tradeweb, which operates trading venues.

The Commission's investigation focused on trading services for European Governments Bonds (‘EGBs'), where both parties are active, as well as on the provision of financial data products and the provision of trading and clearing services for over-the-counter interest rate derivatives (OTC IRDs), where one party is active upstream of the other in the value chain.

During its in-depth investigation, the Commission gathered extensive information and feedback from a very large number of competitors and customers of LSEG and Refinitiv, in particular trading venues, clearing houses, data vendors, banks and other investors. The Commission has also cooperated with competition authorities around the world, as well as with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). – TradeArabia News Service