LSEG London Stock Exchange Group Plc

--Hong Kong Exchanges said LSEG combination a highly compelling opportunity

--HK Exchange believes shareholders should have opportunity to weigh bid versus Refinitiv deal

--LSEG shares up 2.1%

By Adriano Marchese

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. (0388.HK) said Friday that it intends to talk to the London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSE.LN) shareholders and show to them why its offer would be better than the U.K. bourse's acquisition of Refinitiv.

Earlier Friday, the LSEG board had rejected the proposed 29.6 billion-pound ($36.5 billion) cash and share offer from the HK Exchange and said that it didn't see any merits in further talks.

In response, the HK Exchange said that it continues to believe that the proposed combination with LSEG represents a highly compelling strategic opportunity, and it is disappointed that the LSEG board has declined to properly engage with it.

In particular, HK Exchange said it had hoped to demonstrate why it believes that the benefits of its proposal significantly outweigh those of the proposed acquisition of Refinitiv.

Earlier, LSEG said the board unanimously rejected the bid by the HK Exchange, and that it had fundamental concerns about the key aspects of the conditional proposal which included strategy, deliverability, form of consideration and value.

The price bid price was a 23% premium to the LSEG's closing share price of 6,804 pence on Tuesday and puts an enterprise value on the exchange of GBP31.6 billion, including debt.

LSEG said it remains committed to and continues to make good progress on its proposed acquisition of Refinitiv Holdings Ltd., which it agreed to buy on Aug. 1 in a $27 billion all-share deal including debt.

It is buying the business from a consortium of companies that includes Reuters and funds affiliated with U.S. asset manager Blackstone Group Inc. (BX). Under the terms of the proposed transaction the current owners of Refinitiv will retain a 37% stake in the combined business after completion.

At 1443 GMT, shares are up 154.0 pence, or 2.1% at 7402.0 pence.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 13, 2019 11:27 ET (15:27 GMT)

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