The London Stock Exchange acquires Refinitiv, the former data division of Thompson Reuters. The 27 billion dollar operation (of which 12,5 billion in debt) was approved on 25 November by the shareholders of the LSE group, the same group that has held control of Borsa Spa for 12 years, Mts - the electronic government bond market - and Elite, the platform born in 2012 from the collaboration between Borsa Italiana and Confindustria which brings together over a thousand small and medium-sized unlisted companies.
Almost 70% of the new company's revenues will come from Refinitiv data, which will total around 6,8 billion euros, while as he points out Il Sole 24 Ore iThe weight of Borsa Italiana on the profits of LSE, currently equal to about half of the total, will be greatly reduced. Important news will concern the shareholding structure of the colossus which will arise from the marriage between LSE and Refinitiv: 37% of the shares and 30% of the voting rights will in fact be in the hands of the duo Blackstone-Thomson Reuters (which today controls Refinitiv).
The operation should be completed in the second half of 2020, but first it will have to pass the judgment of the European and American regulatory and antitrust authorities. And it is precisely in this context that on the altar on which the marriage between Refinitiv and LSE will be celebrated, the Borsa Italiana, whose value amounts to about 3,5-4 billion. The sale would have a dual purpose: on the one hand, to lighten the dominance of a giant whose margin of action would range from Wall Street to Piazza Affari passing through the City of London, on the other, to finance an operation which envisages, we recall, the absorption by the LSE of 12,5 billion of debts held by the US company.
The however, the total sale or sale of some assets of Borsa Spa in an Antitrust key could hide pitfalls related to possibility, he points out The Sun 24 hours, leading to “a downsizing of the wholesale government bond market”, with heavy repercussions on the Mts.
"The MTS as a platform is strategic for Italy, we follow the evolution of the Lse/Refinitiv affair. The information framework is dynamic and as such by definition is incomplete”, said Alessandro Rivera, director general of the Treasury last October 30, thus warning that Italy is observing the operation very closely. For this there are those who highlight the possibility for the Government to exercise the golden power with the aim of preserving a decisive asset for the country.
Finally, there is something to consider a final option, that Borsa Italiana remains European, passing into the hands of Euronext, company that currently controls the stock exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon and Oslo and which is also trying to include the Bolsa de Madrid in its collection (negotiations are underway). Taking Milan would therefore be a coup that would allow Euronext to make the definitive leap in quality. Its value at the moment is about 5 billion. By absorbing Milan (3,5-4 billion) and Madrid (2,1 billion), Euronext would be able to double its weight, controlling three of the main continental markets. The stock market risk continues.
