Chi-X, Bats set to hear ruling on merger: sources

The Competition Commission began studying the merger in June and is expected to inform the firms of its preliminary findings later this week, said three sources with knowledge of the matter.The preliminary findings will give the merger partners a crucial signal of which way the commission will go when it announces its final decision, expected in early December.The sources said it was unclear which way the commission might lean, with one source saying it is “too close to call” at this stage.Bats Global Markets wants to buy Chi-X Europe for an estimated $300 million and merge the most successful new European trading venue with its own Bats Europe to create a viable alternative trading venue in the region.Chi-X Europe, which like Bats is owned by its main clients, is the largest European trading venue with a market share of 19.2 percent, while Bats Europe has 4.8 percent, Thomson Reuters data shows.Chi-X and Bats have challenged Europe’s main stock exchange groups, such as the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L), NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) and Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE), in the past three years with faster and cheaper trading systems.