London Stock Exchange share price: Group in talks to buy Refinitiv

London Stock Exchange (LON:LSE) is in discussions with a consortium about a possible acquisition of Refinitiv Holdings, the blue-chip group has said. It is expected that the blue-chip group will acquire the analytics firm for $27 billion.

London Stock Exchange’s share price has reacted positively to the news, having soared 8.78 percent to 6,170.00p as of 08:07 BST. The stock is outperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.30 percent higher at 7,571.57 points. The group’s shares have added more than 26 percent to their value over the past year, as compared with about a two-percent fall in the Footsie.

Group confirms Refinitiv talks

London Stock Exchange announced in a statement this morning that it was in discussions with a consortium including certain investment funds affiliated with Blackstone as well as Thomson Reuters about a possible acquisition of Refinitiv Holdings. Under the key headline terms, it is expected that the FTSE 100 group would acquire Refinitiv for a total enterprise value of approximately $27 billion, with new LSEG shares to be issued as consideration in full for Refinitiv’s equity value, after adjusting for Refinitiv’s net debt and other adjustments.

“The Board has conviction that a leading financial markets infrastructure provider must operate globally and across asset classes, with data management, analytics and distribution capabilities that can serve customers across asset classes and geographies,” LSE said in the statement, adding that “Refinitiv serves over 40,000 customer institutions across 190 countries including buy and sell-side firms, market infrastructure companies, governments, financial technology firms and corporations”.

Analysts on FTSE 100 company

UBS reaffirmed the company as ‘neutral’ today, without specifying a target on the London Stock Exchange share price, while Deutsche Bank continues to see the company as a ‘hold’. According to MarketBeat, the blue-chip group currently has a consensus ‘buy’ rating and an average valuation of 5,388.18p.