Sale could help satisfy Brussels’ anti-trust concerns over £21bn merger between LSE and Germany’s Deutsche Börse

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The London Stock Exchange Group said it is looking to sell the French clearing arm of LCH to Euronext NV in an attempt to drive through its £21bn tie-up with Deutsche Börse.

LSE Group said it was exploring the sale of LCH SA to the European exchanges operator as it looks to see off anti-trust concerns raised by the European commission over the mega-merger.

However, it said there could be no certainty that the talks would lead to a transaction taking place.

The move comes after the LSE Group announced last week that it had received a statement of objections from the European commission over its proposed merger, but it reflected “a narrower scope of issues”.

Following Britain’s shock decision to quit the EU, LSE and Germany’s Deutsche Börse have moved quickly to assuage any fears that the referendum result would scupper the deal.

Details of the merger released before the Brexit vote in June, showed that the combined entity aims to make €250m (£210m) in annual cost savings after five years, in addition to the €450m already flagged, and cut 1,250 jobs.

However, the two exchanges also believe that 550 new roles can be created as a result of the tie-up.