On 5 June 2020 the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (AFCA) was notified of the following transaction (Z-4909):
- The planned acquisition of sole control of Refinitiv by the London Stock Exchange Group plc
- As consideration for transferring control of Refinitiv, The Blackstone Group Inc. will indirectly acquire a non-controlling share and about 29% of all voting rights in LSEG
The proposed transaction concerns the financial market infrastructure.
The applicant has withdrawn the merger notification because due to a pending merger control procedure at the European Commission M 9564 LSEG / REFINITIV . The Commission decided to initiate an in-depth investigation (Phase II) on 22 June 2020 due to its “serious concerns”. Further information about the investigation can be found in the press release it published about the case.
It is expected that the merger filing will be resubmitted at a later stage.