The London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Börse have unveiled a deal to combine, a move they hope will fight off interlopers and persuade regulators to bless the creation of a champion for European trading.

伦敦证券交易所集团(London Stock Exchange Group)和德意志交易所(Deutsche Börse)公布了一项合并协议，它们希望此举将击退外来竞争者，并说服监管机构批准缔造一家欧洲交易冠军企业。

A deal would create one of the world’s largest exchange operators, trading more than 5.2tn in equities and with more than 3,200 company listings.

该协议将缔造世界上最大的交易所运营商之一，上市公司超过3200家，交易的股票总价值超过5.2万亿欧元。

The combination would create a regional rival in derivatives trading to take on the world’s largest markets operators, CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange of the US and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.

合并将创建一个衍生品交易的区域性对手，叫板全球各大市场运营商：美国的芝加哥商品交易所集团(CME Group)和洲际交易所(ICE)，以及香港交易及结算所(HKEx)。

The companies confirmed London would be the home of the new holding company, which would have a combined value of about ￡21bn. Deutsche Börse’s Carsten Kengeter would be its chief executive.

两家公司证实新的控股公司将落户伦敦，其总价值将达到约210亿英镑。德意志交易所的卡斯滕•肯格特(Carsten Kengeter)将出任首席执行官。

The deal was “an industry defining, value enhancing merger of equals”, he said. But although the two companies describe the deal as a merger, Deutsche Börse is paying a takeover premium to the LSE.

他表示，该协议标志着“对行业起决定性影响、提升价值的对等合并”。不过，虽然两家公司形容这笔交易为合并，但事实上德意志交易所将向伦敦证交所支付收购溢价。

Donald Brydon, chairman of LSE, would become chairman of the combined business and Joachim Faber, chairman of Deutsche Börse’s supervisory board, would be deputy chairman.

伦敦证交所现任董事长唐纳德•布赖登(Donald Brydon)将出任合并后公司的董事长。德意志交易所现任监事会主席约阿希姆•费伯 (Joachim Faber)将出任副董事长。

Xavier Rolet , chief executive of LSE, will step down if the deal goes ahead.

若合并协议得以落实，伦敦证交所现任首席执行官罗睿铎(Xavier Rolet)将离职。

Mr Rolet said the deal was not just good for big blue-chip issuers but would provide an alternative to bank lending for millions of small and medium-sized companies across Europe. “That is the whole point” of the tie-up, he said.

罗睿铎表示，这笔交易不仅对大型蓝筹股发行人有利，也将为欧洲各地数以百万计的中小企业开辟一条替代融资渠道，使其无须依赖银行放贷。他表示，这是合并的“关键意义”。

The big uncertainty is whether ICE will bid for the LSE. The US group, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, said this month it was considering an offer. A deadline of March 29 for ICE to make an offer no longer stands now that the LSE and Deutsche Börse have unveiled their deal.

目前一个较大的不确定性是，洲际交易所会不会竞购伦敦证交所？旗下拥有纽约证交所(NYSE)的这家美国集团本月曾表示，它正考虑提出收购要约。由于伦敦证交所和德意志交易所已经公布了合并协议，洲际交易所发出要约的截止日期（3月29日）已不再适用。

LSE shareholders’ ownership stake in the new group would be greater than its profit contribution, a fact reflected in a sharp rise in LSE stock — but not Deutsche Börse shares — when the deal was proposed last month. The combined group would have an income of $4.7bn, surpassing ICE, CME and Nasdaq.

伦敦证交所股东在新集团中的股权比重将超过其利润贡献，这一点已反映在股价变动上：上月传出拟议合并的消息后，伦敦证交所股价大涨，但德意志交易所股价未涨。合并后集团的利润将达到47亿美元，超过洲际交易所、芝加哥商品交易所和纳斯达克(Nasdaq)。

The deal underlines how the business of exchanges has increasingly moved from stock trading to more lucrative services such as clearing.

这一合并突显出证交所的业务日趋从股票交易转向更有利可图的服务，如结算。