Microsoft to buy 4% stake in London Stock Exchange

Microsoft is to take a 4% equity stake in London Stock Exchange Group as part of a 10-year commercial deal.

Microsoft to buy 4% stake in London Stock Exchange. (REUTERS)

Microsoft is to take a 4% equity stake in London Stock Exchange Group as part of a 10-year commercial deal to migrate the exchange operator's data platform into the cloud, the British company said on Monday.

As part of the deal, LSEG has made a contractual commitment for minimum cloud-related spend with Microsoft of $2.8 billion over the term of the partnership.

Microsoft said the basis of the partnership will be the digital transformation of LSEG's technology infrastructure and Refinitiv platforms on to the Microsoft Cloud.

"The initial focus will be on delivering interoperability between LSEG Workspace and Microsoft Teams, Excel and PowerPoint with other Microsoft applications and a new version of LSEG's Workspace," the U.S. company said.

LSEG shares were up 4% in early trade.

LSEG bought Refinitiv for $27 billion from a Blackstone and Thomson Reuters' consortium, which turned the exchange into the second largest financial data company after Bloomberg LP.

LSEG has made "good progress" on its programme for the delivery of its cloud-based data platform since the completion of its Refinitiv acquisition in January 2021, it said in a statement.

Microsoft will buy LSEG shares from the Blackstone/Thomson Reuters Consortium, the exchange operator said.

Thomson Reuters, which owns Reuters News, has a minority shareholding in LSEG following the Refinitiv deal.

Microsoft's purchase is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2023.