NYSE’s owner drops plans to bid for London Stock Exchange

The owner of the New York Stock Exchange announced Wednesday that it would not make a takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange Group.

Atlantabased Intercontinental Exchange, also known as ICE, said it determined that “there was insufficient engagement to confirm the potential market and shareholder benefits of a strategic combination.”

ICE announced on March 1 that it was considering a potential offer for the London bourse, which is hammering out the details of a $30 billion tieup with Deutsche Borse, owner of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Under the terms of that allstock merger deal, agreed on March 16, the German exchange operator would hold a 54.4 percent stake in the combined entity and LSEG a 45.6 percent stake.

The transaction, however, is still subject to approval by European antitrust authorities and Deutsche Borse and LSEG shareholders.

The German exchange operator has a market capitalization of 15.5 billion euros ($17.8 billion), while its British counterpart has a market cap of around 11.8 billion euros ($13.6 billion).