Elliott presses LSEG for portfolio review, 5 billion pound buyback, source says

Feb 18 (Reuters) – Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is pressing London Stock Exchange Group to conduct a full review of its portfolio and launch a 5 billion pound ($6.76 billion) buyback, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

This comes days after Reuters reported that Elliott took a stake in LSEG and started engaging with the company on ways to boost performance. LSEG’s shares have dropped more than 30% in the past 12 months, pressured further by a sharp global selloff in software stocks.

While Elliott has not made specific requests to LSEG on asset disposals, it sees the group’s 51% stake in U.S.-listed Tradeweb Markets as a potential route to generate cash, the person said, adding that the fund considers all of LSEG’s portfolio as undervalued.

Elliott declined to comment to a request for comment from Reuters, which provides news for LSEG’s news and data terminal, Workspace, and other products.

An LSEG spokesperson said the company “maintains an active and open dialogue with our investors, while remaining focused on executing our strategy.”

The investor is pressing LSEG leadership to more effectively communicate that the group cannot be disintermediated by large language models and that AI offers an opportunity rather than a threat to the company, the person said.

Engagement between Elliott and LSEG has been constructive so far, the person added.

Bloomberg News first reported Elliott’s plan earlier on Wednesday.

($1 = 0.7401 pounds)

(Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru, Charlie Conchie in London; Editing by Maju Samuel, Anousha Sakoui)