LSE agrees to sell Borsa Italiana to Euronext for 4.3 billion euros

LONDON (Reuters) – London Stock Exchange said on Friday it had accepted a 4.325 billion euro ($5.09 billion) cash offer by pan-European bourse operator Euronext for the Milan stock exchange.

LSE entered exclusive talks with Euronext last month after the Paris bourse owner saw off competition from Deutsche Boerse and Swiss rival SIX for Borsa Italiana.

LSE is selling Borsa as part of regulatory remedies to see through its $27 billion purchase of data provider Refinitiv, which is 45% owned by Thomson Reuters , the parent company of Reuters News.

The sale is contingent on the European Commission formally stating it will only approve the Refinitiv deal if all or part of Borsa Italiana is sold.

“We believe the sale of the Borsa Italiana group will contribute significantly to addressing the EU’s competition concerns,” LSE Chief Executive David Schwimmer said in a statement.

The sale of Borsa is politically sensitive in Italy due to Borsa’s ownership of MTS, the bond platform which handles trading of Italy’s 2.1 trillion euro ($2.5 trillion) government bonds.

To secure the backing of the Rome government, Euronext has teamed up with state agency Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and Italy’s biggest bank Intesa SanPaolo .

(Reporting by Rachel Armstrong; editing by Simon Jessop)