CMA gives London Stock Exchange green light on Quantile takeover
The competition watchdog has given the green-light to London Stock Exchange Group’s takeover of compression firm Quantile today after an in-depth investigation did not raise “substantial competition concerns”.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given the deal the go ahead despite an initial phase one probe flagging some concern over the broadening reach of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
LSEG agreed to snap up Quantile last year for up to £274m in a bid to expand its range of post-trade risk management solutions for banks, hedge funds and financial institutions trading derivatives.
But concerns had spread due to LSEG’s majority shareholding in the LCH clearing house group, on which Quantile and other third party compressions providers rely to provide its services.
CMA chiefs said today that after engagement with customers of LSEG and Quantile and other third-party interest rates compression providers in the market, it had decided to wave the deal through.
“On the basis of that engagement and other evidence we have gathered, we are satisfied that this deal will not worsen the options available to businesses and consumers,” said Martin Coleman, chair of the CMA’s independent inquiry group.
The deal will significantly strengthen the LSEG’s its post-trade business which provides clearing services for over-the-counter derivatives.
Quantile was co-founded in 2015 by Stephen O’Connor, a former Morgan Stanley banker who used to chair the International Swaps and Derivatives Association