(Reuters) - Tullett Prebon Plc (L:TLPR) said the United States Department of Justice had requested additional information relating to the British interdealer broker's proposed acquisition of ICAP Plc's (L:IAP) global hybrid voice broking and information business.
Tullett said it believed the review was focussed on the shareholding and governance arrangements to be put into place after completion of the deal, which it still expected to occur this year.
Tullett agreed in November to buy some of larger peer ICAP's businesses in a 1.11-billion-pound deal to better compete in a sector where trading volumes have shrunk.
Interdealer brokers, which match buyers and sellers of currencies, bonds and other tradable instruments, have been hit in recent years by regulation designed to rein in the riskier trading activities of their traditional investment bank clients.
Traditional telephone broking services have also faced sweeping reforms, as regulators push more derivatives trading onto electronic platforms to make the market more transparent.
U.S. interdealer broker BGC Partners (O:BGCP), with a market capitalisation of $1.9 billion, kicked off consolidation in the sector last February with its purchase of rival GFI Group.
Tullett said on Tuesday it intended to respond to the request over the review "as quickly as practicable". ICAP said, separately, that it remained confident that the necessary clearances would be obtained.
Both companies were not immediately available for further comment.