Regulators clear Vienna's takeover of Slovenian stock exchange

Vienna - The Vienna Stock Exchange won anti-trust regulators' approval to take over Slovenia's main bourse, the Austrian operator said Thursday. Wiener Boerse agreed in June to buy an 81.01-per-cent stake in the stock exchange of the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, beating an offer from Greek Hellenic Exchanges. Slovenian anti-trust authorities have now cleared the deal, the Vienna exchange said in a statement. As a first step, Ljubljanska Borza will be linked into the Vienna exchange's trading data system, which also includes bourses in Budapest, Bucharest, Sarajevo and Banja Luka, the statement said. The Vienna stock exchange strengthened its position in central Europe in June by raising its stake in the Budapest market to 37.7 per cent. It has also expressed interest in taking... [read full story]