Dec 12 Reuters Microsoft is to take a 4 equity stake in London Stock Exchange Group as part of a 10year commercial deal to migrate the exchange operator39;s data platform into the cloud, the British company said on Monday.

As part of the deal, LSEG has made a contractual commitment for minimum cloudrelated spend with Microsoft of 2.8 billion over the term of the partnership.

Microsoft said the basis of the partnership will be the digital transformation of LSEG39;s technology infrastructure and Refinitiv platforms on to the Microsoft Cloud.

The initial focus will be on delivering interoperability between LSEG Workspace and Microsoft Teams, Excel and PowerPoint with other Microsoft applications and a new version of LSEGs Workspace, the U.S. company said.

LSEG shares were up 4 in early trade.

LSEG bought Refinitiv for 27 billion from a Blackstone and Thomson Reuters39; consortium, which turned the exchange into the second largest financial data company after Bloomberg LP.

LSEG has made good progress on its programme for the delivery of its cloudbased data platform since the completion of its Refinitiv acquisition in January 2021, it said in a statement.

Microsoft will buy LSEG shares from the Blackstone Thomson Reuters, Consortium, the exchange operator said.

Thomson Reuters, which owns Reuters News, has a minority shareholding in LSEG following the Refinitiv deal.

Microsoft39;s purchase is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2023.

Reporting by Yadarisa…