Blackstone Inc., Thomson Reuters Corp. and other investors disposed of about GBP2 billion (US$2.4 billion or $3.25 billion) of stock in London Stock Exchange Group Plc after a lockup period expired.
The offering saw 28 million shares sold at GBP71.50 via York Holdings II Ltd., according to a statement. That’s a discount of about 4% to LSEG’s closing price on Tuesday.
The placement was upsized from 23 million shares with the sellers gathering enough investor demand for the offering within minutes of announcing the deal. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC — who are members of the Blackstone consortium — also sold.
The sale of the roughly 5% stake comes days after the stock exchange said it planned to buy back GBP750 million of shares from the consortium. LSE’s US$27 billion acquisition of data giant Refinitiv in 2021 made those investors its largest shareholders with a stake of about 35% as of March 2, 2022, according to LSEG’s 2021 annual report.
Under the lock-up arrangements, Thomson Reuters and Blackstone were able to sell as many as 66.1 million shares in total until Jan 29, 2024. Following the completion of this transaction, the remaining 38.1 million shares will be subject to a 90-day lockup, the terms show.
A LSEG spokesperson declined to comment. Morgan Stanley, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are arranging the sale.
