(Reuters) - Britain's Competition and Markets Authority said on Monday it would examine whether Ion Capital's proposed acquisition of financial systems firm Fidessa (L:FDSA) will stifle competition.
In April, Fidessa agreed to a 1.5 billion-pound ($2.1 billion) acquisition by Ion, a financial software firm backed by U.S. private equity group Carlyle (O:CG), ditching a takeover by Swiss banking software business Temenos (S:TEMN).
Fidessa, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, provides software and services for investment management systems, analytics and market data, serving both the buy-side and sell-side. Its products include an order management system for equity markets.
Fidessa's takeover comes during a wave of deal-making in Britain, as companies take advantage of cheap debt to pursue mergers and acquisitions.