By Ben Dummett and Valentina Pop

Europe's antitrust watchdog on Wednesday approved London Stock Exchange Group Plc's $15 billion deal to acquire Refinitiv Holdings Ltd. with conditions, removing a key hurdle in the LSE's bet to take on Bloomberg LP, S&P Global Inc. and other industry heavyweights offering financial data.

The European Commission's decision ends a months-long probe into the risks of the deal. This centered on concerns the deal could give the LSE undue market power over trading and clearing government bonds, interest rate derivatives, and the sale of financial data such as stock- and bond-price quotes.

Based in London, the LSE is betting on the Refinitiv deal, first announced in 2019, to help it create a financial data juggernaut. The largest exchange company in Europe by market value, it has been diversifying its operations away from stock trading and other traditional exchange businesses, toward clearing and higher margin data services that feed the rise of quantitative trading and passive investing.

Still, the exchange operator agreed to several concessions to win regulatory approval for the tie-up. London has long been Europe's biggest financial center anchored in part by the LSE. The concessions --in place for ten years-- centered on the LSE granting equal access to its venue data to all existing and future competitors, continuing clearing services in line with EU regulations despite Brexit and selling off Borsa Italiana Group.

The concessions also include a dispute resolution system for third parties to go to if the LSE doesn't comply with its commitments.

Write to Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com

(END)Dow Jones Newswires

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