LONDON, May 15 Reuters A consortium of London Stock Exchange Group39;s investors sold 1.6 billion pounds 2 billion worth of shares in the company, bookrunner Morgan Stanley said on Wednesday, in a deal that ends Thomson Reuters39; interest in the firm.

The consortium has sold an aggregate of approximately 17.3 million voting ordinary shares at a price of 9,150 pence a share via a placing to institutional investors and a separate offer to retail investors.

As a result of the sales, Thomson Reuters will no longer hold any interest in LSEG and the Relationship Agreement will terminate in accordance with its terms, the bookrunner said.

The placing price represented a premium of 1.1 on LSEG39;s closing share price on May 14.

To price at a premium for a deal of this scale is unprecedented, demonstrating demand for LSEG39;s stock and the liquidity of London39;s market, a spokesperson for LSEG said.

The entire selldown of the Blackstone Consortium39;s stake, since LSEG acquired Refinitiv, is also the largest ever stake in a European corporate sold by any nonsovereign entity, the spokesperson added.

LSEG bought Refinitiv in January 2021 for 27 billion to compete more effectively with global market data leader Bloomberg.

LSEG pays Reuters for news.

1 0.7942 pounds

Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru and Sinead Cruise; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Carolyn Cohn

Source Reuters