On Thursday 25 August, the stock exchange operators Deutsche Börse and London Stock Exchange notified the European Commission of their planned merger.
This means that theoretically, the European institution has until 28 September to approve or reject a plan that has made waves in many European capitals. The timetable is unsurprisingly subject to possible adjustments, particularly if the parties propose commitments in the meantime.
The Commission already has plenty of food for thought regarding this planned merger. The most recent criticism of the plans, which has been evaluated at nearly €27 billion, was made by one of the members of the Board of Directors of the Bundesbank, Andreas Dombret, who told the news agency Reuters on Wednesday 24 August that the operation could create systemic risks in the field of derivatives clearing.
However, the Commission will have to assess the operation on the strength of its potential impact on competition. In early August, the organisation representing European private investors sounded the alarm. "The merger will result in a substantial lessening of effective competition and reduction of freedom of choice", Paul Koster, the chair of the organisation, stated in a letter to the competent Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager.
In June, the Portuguese Finance Minister, Mario Centeno, also took up his pen to warn the Commissioner that "such a concentration" would endanger the "viability of several European stock exchanges". Reuters, which published the correspondence, reports that the Portuguese minister went on to say that Belgium and France had expressed similar views.
According to the Financial Times, the Netherlands asked the Commissioner over the summer to take account of the fact that "the merger could have an impact on the competitiveness of stock exchanges (…) and on small and medium-sized enterprises".
In 2012, the Commission blocked the announced merger between Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext on the grounds of the virtual monopoly it would have created at international level for the treatment of stock-exchange transactions in European derivative financial products, despite the commitments proposed by the parties (EUROPE 11544). (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)