27 Jul 2016, 5:12 pm
By 5pm on 26 July 60.35% of shareholders had backed the merger, Deutsche Börse said, crossing the 60% threshold required to proceed with the deal under new rules. The deadline for passing the threshold was midnight on the 26th.
Deutsche Börse lowered the minimum acceptance threshold on the proposed merger earlier this month, to make sure that it succeeded. The public exchange offer made by the new holding company that is to be the parent of both LSE and Deutsche Börse had been subject to a minimum acceptance level of 75% of the shares in Deutsche Börse. This threshold was reduced to 60%.
Deutsche Börse will publish the final result of the vote on 29 July, it said.
The exchange operators agreed on the proposed £21 billion merger in February, and recommitted to the deal the day after the UK referendum on 23 June. Shareholders of the LSE then "overwhelmingly" voted to approve the merger on 5 July.
A possible counterbid for the LSE from the owner of the New York stock exchange, Intercontinental Exchange, "never came to pass", the LSE said.
The merger will need to be approved by regulators.