LONDON — The London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Börse said on Wednesday that they had agreed to merge in an all-stock deal that they hope will create a European champion in a rapidly consolidating industry.
The agreement comes four years after Deutsche Börse dropped plans to merge with the parent of the New York Stock Exchange because European antitrust regulators threatened to block that deal.
It would also be the third move to combine the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse since 2000. The companies announced that they were in talks on a potential "merger of equals" last month.
"Strengthening the link between the two leading financial cities of Europe, Frankfurt and London, and building a network across Europe with Luxembourg, Paris and Milan will strengthen European capital markets," Carsten Kengeter, the Deutsche Börse chief executive, said in a news release.
"It is the logical evolution for our companies in a fundamentally changing industry," Mr. Kengeter, who will serve as chief executive of the combined company, added. "As a combined group, we will create a European player that will compete on a global basis."
The deal comes after other exchange operators expressed interest in the London exchange.
IntercontinentalExchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, said this month that it was considering a competing offer for the London exchange, but it never publicly indicated how much it was willing to pay.
Under the terms of the deal with Deutsche Börse, shareholders in the London Stock Exchange would receive 0.4421 of a new share in the combined company for every share of the London Stock Exchange they own. Their counterparts at Deutsche Börse would receive one share of the new company for each of their shares, giving them a 54.4 percent stake in the united market operator.
The combined company would be worth about $ 30 billion, based on the market capitalization of the two exchanges.
The boards of both companies are recommending that shareholders approve the merger. The deal is subject to approval by regulators in the European Union, Russia and the United States.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year or during the first quarter of 2017.
As previously announced, the combined company would be based in Britain and would have headquarters in London and Frankfurt, the home of the Deutsche Börse. It would list its stock in London and Frankfurt.
Its board of directors would have equal representation from both exchanges, and Donald Brydon, the London Stock Exchange chairman, would be its chairman.
After completion of the merger, Xavier Rolet would step down from his role as chief executive of the London Stock Exchange and would serve as an adviser for up to one year.
"Xavier has been the architect of L.S.E.G.'s considerable value creation and has offered to retire in order to ensure the successful creation of the new group," Mr. Brydon said. "The board of L.S.E.G. is indebted to Xavier for this action, which is consistent with his focus on putting the interests of shareholders and clients first."
The transaction would allow London, which has served as a financial gateway to Europe, to maintain economic ties to the Continent, even as Britons are set to vote in June on whether to leave the European Union.
The London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse said on Wednesday that they believed the combined company would be "well positioned to serve global customers" no matter the outcome of the vote, but that an exit by Britain could "well affect the volume or nature" of business carried out by the combined company.
The merger is not conditioned on the outcome of the vote, and the companies said they had formed a committee to consider and make recommendations on the ramifications of Britain voting in a referendum to leave the European Union.
The London Stock Exchange was advised by Barclays, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, Robey Warshaw, RBC Capital Markets, Société Générale and UBS. Deutsche Börse was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Perella Weinberg Partners.
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