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The LSE has agreed to pay €19 in cash per share for up to 60 per cent of the privately-held clearing house, which stands between two parties to a trade, ensuring a deal goes ahead if one side defaults.
LCH.Clearnet shareholders will also be entitled to a special dividend of €1 a share after five years, giving a headline value for the deal of €20 per share. Such a figure implies a valuation of €813 million for the whole of the group. Xavier Rolet, LSE chief executive, said the deal was a “landmark” transaction for the LSE.
Securing LCH.Clearnet would give the LSE its own clearing house in the UK, at a time when the exchange business is dominated by groups that already own their clearing and at a time of regulatory upheaval. Regulators are pushing greater use of clearing on the over-the-counter derivatives markets as a way of safeguarding the financial system against large defaults, in turn creating new business opportunities for exchanges, especially those with their own clearing houses.
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