Deals
The Goldman Alums Who Arranged the $27 Billion LSE-Refinitiv Deal
- Blackstone’s Brand, LSE’s Schwimmer create trading powerhouse
- Private equity firm to more than double return in 10 months
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Martin Brand, a German trader-turned-buyout pro, was closing on the $20 billion purchase of Thomson Reuters Corp.’s financial and risk unit he spearheaded for his Blackstone Group Inc.-led consortium, but he was already planning his next big move.
The business, christened Refinitiv, couldn’t on its own produce the billions needed to justify the giant deal. Blackstone viewed the logical next step as a combination with a stock exchange to create the scale markets demanded, and even toyed with the idea of buying the London Stock Exchange Group Plc at the time, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.