倫敦證交所和德意志交易所宣佈合併

The London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Börse have unveiled a deal to combine, a move they hope will fight off interlopers and persuade regulators to bless the creation of a champion for European trading.

倫敦證券交易所集團(London Stock Exchange Group)和德意志交易所(Deutsche Börse)公佈了一項合併協議，它們希望此舉將擊退外來競爭者，並說服監管機構批准締造一家歐洲交易冠軍企業。

A deal would create one of the world’s largest exchange operators, trading more than 5.2tn in equities and with more than 3,200 company listings.

該協議將締造世界上最大的交易所運營商之一，上市公司超過3200家，交易的股票總價值超過5.2萬億歐元。

The combination would create a regional rival in derivatives trading to take on the world’s largest markets operators, CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange of the US and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.

合併將創建一個衍生品交易的區域性對手，叫板全球各大市場運營商：美國的芝加哥商品交易所集團(CME Group)和洲際交易所(ICE)，以及香港交易及結算所(HKEx)。

The companies confirmed London would be the home of the new holding company, which would have a combined value of about ￡21bn. Deutsche Börse’s Carsten Kengeter would be its chief executive.

兩家公司證實新的控股公司將落戶倫敦，其總價值將達到約210億英鎊。德意志交易所的卡斯滕•肯格特(Carsten Kengeter)將出任首席執行官。

The deal was “an industry defining, value enhancing merger of equals”, he said. But although the two companies describe the deal as a merger, Deutsche Börse is paying a takeover premium to the LSE.

他表示，該協議標誌着“對行業起決定性影響、提升價值的對等合併”。不過，雖然兩家公司形容這筆交易爲合併，但事實上德意志交易所將向倫敦證交所支付收購溢價。

Donald Brydon, chairman of LSE, would become chairman of the combined business and Joachim Faber, chairman of Deutsche Börse’s supervisory board, would be deputy chairman.

倫敦證交所現任董事長唐納德•布賴登(Donald Brydon)將出任合併後公司的董事長。德意志交易所現任監事會主席約阿希姆•費伯 (Joachim Faber)將出任副董事長。

Xavier Rolet , chief executive of LSE, will step down if the deal goes ahead.

若合併協議得以落實，倫敦證交所現任首席執行官羅睿鐸(Xavier Rolet)將離職。

Mr Rolet said the deal was not just good for big blue-chip issuers but would provide an alternative to bank lending for millions of small and medium-sized companies across Europe. “That is the whole point” of the tie-up, he said.

羅睿鐸表示，這筆交易不僅對大型藍籌股發行人有利，也將爲歐洲各地數以百萬計的中小企業開闢一條替代融資渠道，使其無須依賴銀行放貸。他表示，這是合併的“關鍵意義”。

The big uncertainty is whether ICE will bid for the LSE. The US group, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, said this month it was considering an offer. A deadline of March 29 for ICE to make an offer no longer stands now that the LSE and Deutsche Börse have unveiled their deal.

目前一個較大的不確定性是，洲際交易所會不會競購倫敦證交所？旗下擁有紐約證交所(NYSE)的這家美國集團本月曾表示，它正考慮提出收購要約。由於倫敦證交所和德意志交易所已經公佈了合併協議，洲際交易所發出要約的截止日期（3月29日）已不再適用。

LSE shareholders’ ownership stake in the new group would be greater than its profit contribution, a fact reflected in a sharp rise in LSE stock — but not Deutsche Börse shares — when the deal was proposed last month. The combined group would have an income of $4.7bn, surpassing ICE, CME and Nasdaq.

倫敦證交所股東在新集團中的股權比重將超過其利潤貢獻，這一點已反映在股價變動上：上月傳出擬議合併的消息後，倫敦證交所股價大漲，但德意志交易所股價未漲。合併後集團的利潤將達到47億美元，超過洲際交易所、芝加哥商品交易所和納斯達克(Nasdaq)。

The deal underlines how the business of exchanges has increasingly moved from stock trading to more lucrative services such as clearing.

這一合併突顯出證交所的業務日趨從股票交易轉向更有利可圖的服務，如結算。