Having been blocked by the EU regulators in 2016-17, The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has turned from Deutsche to Refinitiv, the financial product portions of Thomson Reuters carved out by Blackstone last year (LSEG was also blocked in their efforts to buy the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2011).

All the analysts seem to agree that the deal would make LSEG a global exchanges and data powerhouse. LSEG’s stock offer (which they say will grant 37% of the shares and 30% of the votes to Refinitiv shareholders such as Blackstone and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board) somehow suggests the expression about ‘not letting foxes guard the proverbial henhouse.’ Certainly, the deal puts LSEG on relative par as an international financial information provider with Bloomberg and SPGI (of CapIQ fame).

Most of the British financial media feel this deal will pass muster with the regulators, unlike the Deutsche and TMX efforts earlier. The London Stock Exchange is currently the seventh largest market exchange in the world.