London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has completed the acquisition of Russell Investments following "satisfactory completion of all outstanding conditions", according to a statement from the group.
As a result of the acquisition, FTSE and Russell Indexes will integrate their operations to create a "leading provider of index products that is uniquely positioned to serve the needs of [their] clients".
"Russell significantly enhances LSEG's presence in the US, the world's largest global financial services market, further expanding our global footprint and diversifying our customer and product base," said Xavier Rolet, chief executive of LSEG.
LSEG will combine the index expertise and capabilities of FTSE and Russell Indexes to produce a comprehensive suite of index solutions with broad global coverage informed by local market knowledge and extensive multi-asset capabilities, said the exchange in the statement.
LSEG said that the focus over the coming months would be to ensure a smooth integration of the two businesses and that there would be no changes to products and services in the near term.
"We will work carefully to build on our strengths while continuing to provide the highest level of client service," said the statement. "We are very excited about the future of our combined business and look forward to working together to create added value for all of our clients."
Comprehensive review
On June 26, LSEG announced that it would acquire the entire Frank Russell Company from Northwestern Mutual for $2.7bn.
The acquisition includes the proprietary index business of Russell, which has $5.2tr in global assets benchmarked to the index line-up, as well as the asset management unit which has $259bn in assets under management.
SRP data shows more than 5,000 products across jurisdictions have featured Russell gauges, of which 2,535 are still live structures. The Russell2000 flagship index is the benchmark of choice in the structured retail products market with 2,524 products referencing the gauge and the US market leading the usage with 2,393 products followed by Canada (66) and Sweden (44).
The Russell 2000 gauge has only been used once in the UK market, by Gilliat Financial Products (International Growth Portfolio - December 2013), which sold its structured products business to Mariana Capital in July.
The LSE's flagship benchmark, the FTSE100 index, is used in 5,225 structures across databases with the UK market leading the usage of this index with more than 3,200 structures. SRP data also shows that there are 123 live structures in the US market linked to FTSE indices.
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