A prominent activist investment firm is pressuring the London Stock Exchange Group to undertake a comprehensive portfolio evaluation and execute a massive 5 billion pound ($6.7 billion) share repurchase program within the coming year, according to a Bloomberg News report published Wednesday that cited sources with knowledge of the situation.
The news follows recent reports that Elliott Investment Management acquired a position in LSEG and began discussions with company leadership about strategies to enhance operational performance.
The stock exchange’s share price has plummeted over 30% during the last twelve months, with additional pressure coming from a widespread global decline in software company valuations.
Paul Singer’s Elliott is also pushing LSEG to reevaluate its complicated organizational framework, which includes data services, trading platform operations, and majority ownership of 51% in the American-listed Tradeweb Markets, according to the Bloomberg report.
The investment firm wants LSEG to strengthen its investor outreach regarding potential benefits from artificial intelligence technology, as the company’s data division could experience increased demand from AI-related applications, the report noted.
Elliott is additionally advocating for operational enhancements to boost profit margins and close performance gaps with industry competitors, Bloomberg reported, while clarifying that the fund is not advocating for a complete company sale or separation of the exchange operations.
“LSEG maintains an active and open dialogue with our investors, while remaining focused on executing our strategy,” an LSEG representative stated to Bloomberg.
Neither Elliott nor LSEG provided immediate responses to requests for comment. Reuters, which supplies news content for LSEG’s Workspace terminal and other products, could not independently confirm the Bloomberg report.
