A follow-up to LeapRate’s earlier report about the investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the acquisition of Trayport by Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE)…
Last week, the CMA said that it would refer the merger for an in-depth investigation unless Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) offered necessary undertakings to address the CMA’s competition concerns.
The regulator is concerned that ICE could use its ownership of Trayport’s software to hike prices and/or lower the quality of its service to rival exchanges, brokers and clearinghouses in order to divert its rivals’ trades to ICE’s exchange and clearinghouse and/or to protect its market position from increased competition.
As ICE has not offered any undertakings in lieu, the CMA said it will therefore now refer the merger.
A decision on the deal will be made by a group of independent panel members supported by a case team of CMA staff. The deadline for the final report is October 18, 2016.
For the full announcement from the CMA, click here.