Competition Commission on LSE Bids

01 August 2005




The Competition Commission (CC) has provisionally concluded that the proposed acquisition of London Stock Exchange plc (LSE) by Deutsche Börse AG (DBAG) or Euronext NV (Euronext) would substantially lessen competition.

The CC found that either merger would make it more difficult for other exchanges to compete with LSE in trading UK equities because of both bidders’ ownership or control over the future provision of clearing services to LSE.

Any exchange attempting to compete with LSE and win the business of trading firms on the LSE would require access to LSE’s clearing services provider.

The CC found that the removal of DBAG or Euronext alone, as a result of either merger, would not be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition in the provision of on-exchange trading services because of the competition provided by other exchanges in Europe and the USA.

Competition Commission Press Release

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