Competition watchdog looks into Ion’s £1.5bn bid for Fidessa

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced today that it is looking into whether Ion Investment Group's last minute £1.5bn bid for software company Fidessa could cause troubles.

An invitation for comment by the CMA went out earlier today, with a deadline of 2 July.

The watchdog issued the following statement on the matter:

The Competition and Markets Authority is considering whether it is or may be the case that this transaction if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.

Fidessa had previously recommended that shareholders accept a £1.4bn offer from Swiss rival Temenos, but changed its allegiance to recommend Ion's bid as it came in just over two hours before the deadline.

Read more: Ion throws down gauntlet for Fidessa with £1.5bn bid as Temenos shut out

Fidessa investors will receive a total price per share of £39.50 from the Ion offer, after factoring in a final dividend for 2017.

Ion's offer came in at a 48.6 premium to Fidessa's share price at the time of the bid, which now sits at 3,847.50.

Speaking at the time of the bid, Fidessa's chairman Jon Hamer said:

"Ion shares our vision of driving workflow automation in the world's financial markets and has a highly complementary business to ours: Fidessa is a leader in equities and derivatives and Ion is a leader in fixed income and FX."

Representatives for Fidessa and Ion Group have been contacted for comment.

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