1. News
October 27, 2022

UK CMA clears LSEG’s £274m acquisition of Quantile Group

Following the conclusion of the phase 2 probe, the British competition watchdog has stated that the acquisition is unlikely to lead to a significant lessening of competition between Quantile and its rivals

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) previously announced £274m acquisition of Quantile Group after an in-depth merger probe.

Quantile caters to the global financial services market with portfolio, margin and capital optimisation and compression services.

The British antitrust authority provisionally cleared the deal in September 2022.

The merger inquiry was launched by the competition watchdog in March 2022 and subsequently referred the deal for an in-depth phase 2 investigation in May this year owing to possible competition concerns.

Following the conclusion of the phase 2 probe, the CMA stated that the acquisition is unlikely to lead to a significant lessening of competition between Quantile and its competitors.

UK CMA independent inquiry group chair Martin Coleman said: “The in-depth investigation and consultation allowed us to engage extensively with LSEG, Quantile, and their customers and competitors, enabling us to better understand the impact of the transaction on those businesses and the market.

“On the basis of that engagement, and other evidence we have gathered, we are satisfied that this deal will not worsen the options available to businesses and consumers. As such, the transaction can go ahead.”

The deal was announced by LSEG in December 2021 with an intention to broaden its range of post trade risk management solutions to its customers through trade compression, capital and margin optimisation services.

Quantile is expected to be complementary to LSEG’s OTC Derivatives clearing services, which provide capital efficiencies and risk management to customers.

The services of LSEG and Quantile are set to be available on an open model approach basis that will offer customers the choice of where to clear, compress and streamline their trading activity.