Bats Global Markets (Bats) today announced it received formal approval from the UK Competition Commission to acquire Chi-X Europe, the largest pan-European trading venue in terms of market share and notional value traded.
In February, BATS entered a definitive agreement to purchase Chi-X Europe and the Office of Fair Trading referred the proposed combination to the UK Competition Commission in June.
BATS will combine Chi-X Europe with the BATS Europe multilateral trading facility (MTF). The combined organisation, which will be known as BATS Chi-X Europe, will represent approximately 25% of European equities trading.
Joe Ratterman, chairman and chief executive of BATS Global Markets, said: "We appreciate the Competition Commission's attention to this matter and we are pleased that their formal findings support those in the provisional report. It is both exciting and rewarding to be on the cusp of closing this strategic deal and we thank our customers and investors for their support during the review process.
"We will now focus on completing the combination of BATS Europe and Chi-X Europe to create an even more formidable competitor in pan-European securities trading, offering greater market efficiencies for the entire investing community," he said.
Based on statistics for the third quarter of 2011, Chi-X Europe accounted for €546.6 billion traded and 19.5% of the overall European market, making it the largest European equity exchange. BATS Europe reached €154.2 billion traded and 5.5% in the third quarter.
No further statements will be made at this time.