Oct 22 (Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange Group on Thursday agreed to buy financial data firm Octus for about $3.54 billion, its biggest acquisition since the 2019 deal for Refinitiv as the group seeks to cement its stronghold in data and analytics.
Here is a timeline of key events at the British group, from its incorporation in 2007 to its various strategic moves:
Date Event
2007 LSEG as a corporate entity was founded in 2007,
when the London Stock Exchange, with a history
dating back more than 300
years, merged with Borsa
Italiana in a deal valued at 1.6 billion euros.
2009 LSEG acquires Millennium IT, a Sri Lanka-based
technology solutions provider involved in the
global capital markets industry, for $30 million.
2009 LSEG buys 60% stake in pan-European equities
trading platform Turquoise, in partnership with
leading global investment banks.
2013 LSEG completes the purchase of a majority stake in
global multi-asset class clearing house LCH
Clearnet.
2014 LSEG completes the deal for US-based financial
services provider Frank Russell Company for $2.7
billion, whose assets include the Russell Indexes
business.
2016 LSEG and Deutsche Börse AG agrees on the terms of
a recommended all-share merger deal worth 29
billion euros in March to create UK TopCo.
2017 LSEG completes the acquisition of Mergent, a
U.S.-based provider of business and financial
information on public and private companies.
2017 LSEG completes the deal for fixed income analytics
platform and index business The Yield Book and
Citi Fixed Income Indices, from Citigroup for $685
million.
2017 TopCo merger attempt is blocked by EU Competition
Regulator.
2017 Activist hedge fund, The Children's Investment
Fund Management, fails to oust chairman Donald
Brydon, after accusing the board of forcing CEO
Xavier Rolet out.
2018 Hedge fund TCI cuts stake in LSEG.
2018 LSEG increases majority shareholding in LCH Group.
2019 LSEG acquires a 4.92% stake in Euroclear in deal
valued 278.5 million euros.
2019 LSEG acquires ESG fixed income data provider
Beyond Ratings (now LSEG Sovereign Sustainability
Solutions).
2019 LSEG confirms plans to acquire data and analytics
company Refinitiv for $27 billion.
2020 LSEG agrees to sell Milan's Borsa Italiana stock
exchange to Euronext for 4.3 billion euros. The
sale was dependent on the Refinitiv transaction
going through.
2021 LSEG agrees to acquire Quantile Technologies, a
provider of portfolio, margin and capital
optimisation and compression services, for up to
$362 million.
2022 LSEG announces plans to acquire trading technology
provider TORA for $325 million.
2022 LSEG signs an agreement to acquire MayStreet, a
market data solutions provider.
2022 Microsoft agrees to purchase nearly 4% equity
stake in LSEG through the acquisition of shares
from the Blackstone/Thomson Reuters Consortium.
2022 LSEG acquires multi-asset post-trade services
provider Acadia for about $700 million, according
to the data analytics group.
2025 LSEG announces partnership with OpenAI that allows
users to access Financial Analytics content,
real-time market data, research and news from
within ChatGPT.
February Activist investor Elliott builds a stake in LSEG
2026 and engages with the company to drive performance,
calling for more "value enhancing" actions.
July London Stock Exchange announces plans to launch
2026 round-the-clock trading in 2027 and says it had
"constructive" dialogue with Elliott.
October LSEG agrees with private equity firm Permira to
2026 acquire financial data group Octus for about $3.5
billion.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Simone Lobo in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
