The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the merger between London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and Quantile following an in-depth investigation.
CMA is temporary blocked the mergerworth around £274m, in May amid concerns the deal could harm competition in the market.
Founded in 2015, Quantile is a financial technology company that aims to reduce regulatory costs and capital requirements for financial institutions that trade derivatives through a process called multilateral compression.
The CMA’s concern was that LSEG similarly provides cost-cutting services to financial institutions and was investigating whether the merger would make the market less competitive.
The the first phase of the investigation found that these concerns had some validity, prompting an in-depth phase two investigation. This led to the CMA engaging with the companies’ clients and third-party providers of similar services, ultimately suggesting that the deal would not hurt the market.
“In-depth investigation and consultation enabled us to engage extensively with LSEG, Quantile, their customers and competitors, enabling us to better understand the impact of the transaction on these businesses and the market,” said Martin Coleman, chairman of the CMA. an independent research group.
“Based on this interaction and other evidence we have gathered, we are confident that this deal will not worsen the options available to businesses and consumers. So the deal can go ahead.”
