Frankfurt, London seal US$30b trading tie-up to counter US threat

Frankfurt

Deutsche Boerse and the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday agreed to press ahead with their planned US$30 billion merger to create one of the world's biggest exchanges, insisting the tie-up will succeed irrespective of the outcome of the looming Brexit vote on Britain's future in the EU.

The two operators said that they planned to proceed with their "merger of equals" under the key terms already drawn up.

The announcement comes as US-based global markets operator Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which owns the New York Stock Exchange, is also mulling over a rival bid for the LSE. And it comes at a politically sensitive time as Britain is due to…